I will have to ask the Minister for Justice to revert directly to the Deputy. I am aware work is under way in the Department of Justice in respect of that matter. Certainly, it is my view, and I think it is also the Minister for Justice's view, that in certain cases of particularly heinous crimes, there is merit in considering the idea of a minimum tariff.

I am indeed, and I thank the Deputy for his question on this. Today, the Government had a good day in that we took three more concrete actions on the basis of recommendations from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, to assist with the housing situation. We are expanding the Croí Cónaithe scheme such that more people can avail of the grant to do up vacant homes, extending the rent-a-room scheme to include local authority homes that wish to take in a student, which is a win-win fo…

I thank the Deputy for that very fair question. I would expect to receive it in the coming weeks. There is a lot of work going between Galway-Roscommon ETB and SOLAS, and I thank them for that. We cannot provide enough apprenticeship capacity - the more, the better - and we need to make sure every part of the country is covered to make it accessible for people in the regions as well. I am positively disposed to this and look forward to receiving the application in the coming weeks.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. In fairness, he has raised it with me on a number of occasions. It is something we have yet to find a resolution for, but I will accept his challenge to engage with broader Government colleagues on this to see whether there is a way. The Government has done more on all-island education than perhaps ever before, including the expansion of the Magee campus in Derry, ensuring Northern Ireland students can continue to benefit from Erasmus+ and ring-fencing places in nursing, …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I will ask my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to look into this matter, liaise with the local authority and reply to the Deputy directly on the issues raised.

I am well aware of the excellent work done by bus escorts. It is vital, and they often build a relationship with vulnerable children and children with additional educational needs. I am not familiar with the contractual issues or terms and conditions, but I will refer the matter to the Minister for Education and ask her to link with the Deputy.

I thank Deputy Nolan for raising the issue. Teacher supply is an issue which my colleague, the Minister, takes seriously. Budget 2024 contains a range of targeted measures aimed at trying to improve teacher supply, including a professional masters of education incentive scheme to be introduced for teachers graduating in 2024 and an expansion of the number of upskilling programmes available in Irish, French, politics and society and computer science. I will ask the Minister for Education to update Deputy Nolan direc…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am well aware of the difficult situation in Galway city, Oranmore and Clarinbridge. My colleagues, the Ministers of State, Deputies O'Donovan and Naughton, were there today. We all want to help as a Government, as does Deputy Ó Cuív. At its meeting earlier, the Cabinet approved, on the recommendation of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the extension of the enhanced emergency business flooding scheme to businesses in County Galway affected by Storm Debi.…

I thank Senator Cummins for his tireless work in delivering a university for the south east and, subsequently, keeping the pressure on night and day to ensure we successfully acquired the Waterford Crystal site for the expansion of one of Ireland's newest and most innovative universities. I am delighted to be back here to discuss where we are at with the acquisition of the former Waterford Crystal site for SETU in Waterford and where we are at with regard to the PPP bundle 2 process. I will be very clear, as I have…

I share the Senator's ambition on that. This is a high-priority project. It will involve me, at a point in time, needing to engage with my colleague in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. One way or another we need to bring finality to this and I think everybody shares that view. Can I just say that a couple of people, or maybe a few more than a couple, in Waterford have doubted us a few times on this university, so let us look at their record today. First, they said…

I am delighted to be here to take this important matter raised by Senators Dolan and Murphy. I thank them for tabling it and for working together on what is a really important issue. The Government's ambition for apprenticeships and further education and training is well known and recognised. Only today we have seen figures that show an 8% increase in the number of apprentices in Ireland this year by comparison with last year. We are about a year ahead of our target in getting 10,000 new apprentices registered each…

I thank Senators Dolan and Murphy. SOLAS has met the ETB and is working closely with it. SOLAS will then send a recommendation to my Department. I am saying clearly here on the floor of Seanad Éireann that I am positively disposed towards this, as is my Department. I take the point Senator Dolan makes about the just transition area. That further adds to the compelling case of this project. I join Senator Murphy in acknowledging the leadership of David Leahy. I know he was in Leinster House recently. I am sorry I mi…

You do.

The Deputy is misleading the House.

She did. She just said it.

The Deputy and I must talk to different students, which is entirely possible. I have met many students and parents who really welcome that rather than having to wait until next September for a fee reduction that might happen, we have taken the opportunity in the cost-of-living package to ensure tens of thousands of students will get €1,000 back before Christmas and tens of thousands of people will get an increase in their postgraduate fee contribution. In addition, the PhD stipend will rise for many from January. I…

I am sure the Deputy will agree that we must start with those most in need. Ministers have to work with the resources that are available and it is right to target them at those most in need. From next September, any student with a household income below €56,000 will pay a grand total of zero in undergraduate fees. I often see that among secondary school students, many of them think their parents will have to pay €3,000 in college fees, which they may not have. This is not true. Anybody in this country with a househ…

My vision on this is really clear. I believe education is a public good and that people should have a right to access it regardless of their means. Free education in Ireland now starts at age two, with free preschool education, and goes right the way through. That should continue on through to an undergraduate degree. Some people will go to college full time, some part time and others will do a third level course online. People will not necessarily want to go straight from school to college. There needs to be flexi…

I acknowledge that the Deputy raises this issue with me regularly. Every year since I became Minister, we have made improvements to PhD stipends, and rightly so because they are not where they need to be. The first change we made was to address a bizarre discrepancy that existed between the stipend for a PhD researcher with the Irish Research Council and that for a PhD researcher with Science Foundation Ireland. In last year's budget, the stipend was increased by €500 for both SFI and the IRC, bringing stipends in …

I did not say that.