I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I will do that for Deputy Gould today. I will acknowledge the number of apprentices that are in Cork, or for anyone else who wants the figures relating to their constituency. There are more than ever before in this country. There are more than ever before. These are record numbers. There is an issue with waiting times, which is what this question is about, although we have strayed from it significantly. Regarding the CSO figures, the Deputy is referencing a different period to w…

I should also say that I will get back to Deputy Mairéad Farrell with specific information on the breakdown of the programmes. I am happy to provide that.

It is my priority in 2024 to continue to drive down the cost of education. I am pleased that the Government and the Fine Gael political party have managed to reduce fees for more than 96,000 students for two years in a row now. This is putting €1,000 back in the pockets of families right across the country. I want to see more progress in relation to that. I want to continue to see us reducing the cost of education so that education will be accessible to everyone. I want to see things like the rent tax credit being …

I agree with the Deputy on both issues and I will look at that widows and widowers issue. I want to look more comprehensively at an overhaul of SUSI to make sure the thresholds are right, that it is supporting people and families across the country and that it is agile enough to understand that people learn in different ways. That is why the part-time change is an important one. The Deputy is also right about thresholds. There are often people who just about get by. They work hard and do everything right and they f…

I will do that. Deputy Griffin is entirely right; if you go into a café, hotel, pub or shop, people will tell you it can be hard to attract staff. There are many students who are working, who need to work and who want to work but they are worried that if they work too many hours, they might go over the threshold and lose their student grants. The good news is that progress has been made on this with the holiday earnings deduction, as it is called. The amount of income you can earn and have disregarded has increased…

I thank the Deputy for his question and kind words. Planning for current and future public and private sector workforce and skills needs and ensuring an appropriate pipeline of suitable qualified graduates is a particular priority of mine. I say public and private because we need to meet the needs of the economy and to continue to work closely with businesses on upskilling and reskilling their workforce and around providing them with the graduates they need. We also need to ensure we are providing enough graduates …

On Deputy Durkan's question, we will liaise with industry in terms of our regional skills forums. This is the mechanism that has been looked at by other countries with a degree of interest. We have, in every region in Ireland, a regional skills forum. They bring together the colleges, ETBs, universities and employers in the region to look at what is needed in the south west or Dublin, for example, in skills provision. That is working very well and we need to continue to do that. I was determined, when my Department…

The Deputy is entirely correct. He is in this House for a very long time and knows very well the different challenges that come with different stages of the economic cycle. I remember when I first got elected to this House to serve alongside him when we were dealing with an economy with 15% unemployment. The issue employers certainly were not bringing up with us was the difficulty of attracting staff. We are now in a situation of full employment and the highest number of people ever with a job in the country and th…

I thank Deputy Dillon for his work with me and his interest on this project. We have been in Castlebar many times and we can report real progress that it is now a university town, Mayo is now a university county and we have the Atlantic Technological University. From my engagement with the president of the university and from the Deputy directly I know how much of a difference that is already making and how much potential there is to go further to drive more courses and programmes into Castlebar. Alongside that we …

I thank Deputy Dillon. I am pleased the Atlantic Technological University and the Castlebar site are now able to provide apprenticeships, but like I was saying earlier, we expand apprenticeship provision. It is important we also try to do it in the regions, because we want people to have an opportunity to be able to access this in their home towns or counties and we want employers in those areas to have an opportunity to access apprentices in their regions as well. Congratulations are due to Dr. Orla Flynn, Preside…

I thank the Deputy. He is entirely right. For the technological universities to reach their full potential and indeed for the full benefit to be seen for the regions of Ireland we need to see the provision of student accommodation. That never happened when they were institutes of technology. I think Waterford Institute of Technology may have, of its own volition, provided some student accommodation but I do not believe any other institute was in a position to do so. I am determined that does not happen with the tec…

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for his question but, more importantly, for genuinely engaging constructively with me on this over a sustained period. I have found his engagement to be insightful and very useful to my Department. As he will be well aware, a number of education and training boards, ETBs, have employed personal assistants to provide supports to learners under the fund for students with disabilities. I have been in a number of these ETBs and colleges, including DIFE, with the Deputy, and my officials have eng…

There is a big piece of policy work that I have asked my Department to do on how we support people with disabilities throughout the tertiary education system. This is not a political point because it happened long before I was here but over a number of generations we have made good progress on inclusion at primary and second level. We have more to do but there has been good progress. However, there is still a bit of a cliff edge when it comes to third level. I can point to good examples and good practice but I do n…

I agree. The next step is for us to meet with the personal assistants to see what progress can be made on the basis of the additional allocation I received in November, as well as to see how the Fórsa claim is considered and progressed. My Department is monitoring that closely. I also want to inform the House of my intention to do that broader piece of policy work on ensuring consistency in the approach to supports for students with disabilities, no matter what part of the tertiary education system they access.

The Deputy could not have known when he submitted his question that I would make an announcement this morning but I am pleased to say that I have just given approval for a major expansion of apprenticeship provision in the Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT. A total of 390 additional apprenticeship programme places will be provided there under a programme that will see the refurbishment of vacant space within the P. J. Carroll buildings. I want to congratulate DkIT whose new president, Dr. Diarmuid O'Callaghan, …

The Deputy has just given the far right a pass. It is a disgrace.

Facts are not your thing.

We have the pictures. It is despicable.

She knows it.

Are you going to take her out Louise?