These are time sensitive problems. The Minister knows that. With due respect to other Deputies, I really need to ensure a solution and this is easily solvable. We need to renew the contracts for the Teagasc education officers. We need to put the resources into the further education colleges so that they can be put online.

At the outset, I too express my gratitude to the front-line workers in the Department of Social Protection. I thank them all, particularly those in Mayo and the west, for all of their help and for doing the massive job they have had to do. I will ask the Minister a couple of questions. The first is on community employment schemes. Could contracts under such schemes be extended to, for example, 31 December to provide some certainty? The Minister needs to engage directly with organisations on the ground and to show s…

Can the Minister confirm that the common travel area ensures that all Irish and British citizens can continue to access further and higher education on a same-fees basis, as was the case prior to Brexit, and that no students from the North will be charged international fees at any of our educational institutions? This is a very specific question and the Minister may intend to make a statement on it. Fishing has been central to every exchange we have had with the Minister regarding Brexit. As always, he has assured …

I am really concerned by the number of people who are having their medical cards taken away as we speak. We are at the height of a pandemic and people are being contacted by the HSE, which is taking away those medical cards. Can the Tánaiste please stop this practice? I know last year there was a moratorium while extensions were given. This year, that has not happened to date. The practice must stop. We know already that medical card thresholds are way too low. People are being hounded out of medical cards and peop…

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for those contributions. I sat here for the last three hours during the discussions with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I apologise if I must go back over some of the same material, because of the connection between third-level education and the leaving certificate. All I wanted the Minister for Education to do was answer my questions. Several of her party and Government colleagues also asked her when a decision will be made concerning the leaving certificat…

On the leaving certificate, we do not know how this virus will go, so will there be clarity around the predicted grades or a combination of both? Can the Minister reassure students that the algorithm that would be used for determining places in colleges will be fair? Will there be some transparency around it? I go back again to the clarity and the information that students need right at this moment on the oral and practical examinations, which is what happens around now. This is their lead in and we cannot just cut…

I raise with the Taoiseach Claremorris Boys' National School, which has had 16 confirmed Covid-19 cases. On Monday, out of 85 pupils due in, only seven turned up. The Department and the Minister's handling of the challenges presented by Covid-19 in that school is wholly unacceptable. I commend the huge collective effort by the board of management, the principal and teachers, the parents' association and the parents in ensuring the health and well-being of the children in the Claremorris area. Nobody disputes the pu…

Obviously, I welcome the progress made across the areas of the multi-annual financial framework, the Covid recovery and climate action. I also welcome the European Council's commitment to treating the vaccination as a global public good. There were positive steps recently at EU level in the conclusion of common advance purchase agreements to guarantee access for Ireland and other member states to the vaccines as they become available. As was said previously, it is not the vaccines that are important, but the vaccin…

Covid-19 and Brexit have served to bring to the forefront the need to address the stark regional imbalance and overpopulation of Dublin and our major cities. We must provide the infrastructure necessary to enable people to live and work in rural Ireland. The fact is that the criteria used for cost-benefit analyses on major projects mitigates against investment in regions. I ask the Taoiseach and the Government to change this. Investment decisions must be guided by clear strategic objectives, giving weight to factor…

I completely understand that, but I am asking for a review of it, similar to what was done in Britain with the green book.

I have been raising the issue of students paying for unused accommodation since the summer. Each time I have raised it, the Minister has assured me that at the very least, students with on-campus accommodation would get refunds. Will he confirm whether all universities are issuing refunds? I will come to the issue of private accommodation later. I really want to get this matter off the table. What the Minister is telling me is not what is happening on the ground.

Yes, there are students who have done this, and my son is one of those in the accommodation in Trinity College Dublin. I am not disputing that but it is not good enough that public institutions have refused to give refunds or are giving only partial refunds. Many have tried to give the smallest refunds possible. I have received recent reports that some universities, including Dublin City University, are refusing to give refunds unless they were requested by 5 October, which was two weeks before the level 5 restrict…

As the Minister said, most students are not in on-campus accommodation, but in the private rented sector. Private student accommodation has been the preferred model for successive Governments. When I raised the issue of private accommodation in recent months, the Minister said there was not a lot he could do. I wish to commend the private accommodation providers who have issued refunds but many have not, and they need to be called out. I have spoken to the universities about this. I want them to be aware of this in…

My question relates to the €250 payment to students, for which €50 million in funding was announced in the budget. Can the Minister clarify why €43.5 million, rather than €50 million, was provided in the Supplementary Estimate? Will he comment on the number of students excluded from the payment, including part-time students, students on full-time post-leaving certificate courses, PLCs, and students who choose to study abroad or in the North?

I welcome the Minister's response and the fact that students studying abroad and in the North will get this support, albeit, as I know the Minister understands, it is very little in terms of the high fees they have to pay. For students in their final year, is there a cut-off date by which the institutions have been asked to pay this money? How many students will be paid before Christmas? Part-time students should be considered for inclusion because they have many expenses which can prohibit them from education. It …

I thank the Minister. Do the institutions already have this money? Is it being front-loaded? Cross-Border enrolment on this island is still far too low. In the past ten years there has been a decline of almost 40% in the number of students from this State studying in the North. Students from the North of Ireland make up less than 1% of enrolment in this State. We need to work collectively to reverse those trends, and we should start by not punishing students and giving the same leeway to those studying in the North…

Could the Minister give us an assurance that students who are severely impacted by Covid, either by getting sick themselves or by related anxiety, stress or mental health issues, will not be penalised next year? Could there be a possibility for them to repeat and still be eligible for SUSI or not have to pay the fees again if they have medical evidence?

This question relates to postgraduate courses. It is an issue I wish to raise again. We should also include the graduate-entry medical students, as they pay similarly high fees. We have seen significant and justified anger among postgraduate students because they have paid so much for a one-year course and now they are doing it from their kitchen table or from box rooms. What, if any, steps has the Department taken with regard to postgraduate students who have paid up to €18,000 in some cases?

The issue is that institutions have overpromised and the Department must take some responsibility for that, as with the accommodation matter. Many of the students and parents I have spoken to feel they were misled. We cannot treat universities, institutes of technology and private colleges like primary or post-primary schools. They are marketing very expensive courses and that is what they sold. The students are not getting what they paid for. In many or all cases, they made promises that could not be delivered. I …

I am sure the €250 support brought welcome relief to many students and I welcome the fact it was extended to postgraduates. We can consider the large sums involved in getting a master's degree, which can be anything from €8,000 to €18,000 per year. When the move online was announced at the end of September, students should have been offered the chance to defer or take a refund. Will the Department now support students in their calls for a rebate of the fees they have paid? The UCD Smurfit business school students a…