I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and arranging for me to meet members of the Teachers' Union of Ireland when I visited DkIT. I was delighted to do so and will be delighted to have a further meeting with them in due course. As the Deputy is well aware, DkIT is currently pursuing a trajectory to achieve technological university status. Let me be very clear: the north east must not and will not be left behind when it comes to having a technological university. It is key to have university status in the north…

My legislative function is very clear in the Technological Universities Act. I have just started setting up technological universities right across the country. I am very eager that we deliver one for the north east. However, my actual function has been to provide funding and expert advice. This has resulted in much progress in respect of DkIT. I believe we will be in a position to make progress in the north east and genuinely believe we will deliver technological university status for the institute. The Deputy tal…

I want to say at the outset, and perhaps we will have time to get into it during Question Time, that I look forward to working with all Members of the House and all spokespersons on a number of the issues we will have to address arising from the Ukrainian situation, in terms of supporting students including those who are already here. I know this is an issue on which Deputy Conway-Walsh and I will want to work together. We will have a lot of work to do on English language supports. I wanted to say this on my first …

I take the point the Deputy makes and the spirit in which she makes it. I certainly want to work with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. I assure Deputy Conway-Walsh that the new funding and reform framework will be provided to the Oireachtas committee once the Cabinet has considered the matter. It will be published along with the DG REFORM-sponsored economic assessment report on the sustainability of higher education and the SUSI review. I b…

I am following with interest, and I believe there is value in, the work the committee is doing. Perhaps not everybody in the sector will agree with the following but let me be very clear on my position. This will not be new money for old rope. It will have to be accompanied by a reform agenda. To be very clear to the sector, I accept there is an issue with core funding that needs to be addressed. I also accept and know that reforms will be required in the sector. These are reforms to deliver on a number of issues w…

I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin for the question. If we were debating this a couple of months ago the first priority we would have had was making sure we could get the college campuses reopened and get students back on campus in a safe way. We discussed this at great length in the House. I thank everybody who worked extraordinarily hard to do this, including trade unions, student unions and management bodies. The real collaboration we have seen in the further and higher education sector has resulted in our college campus…

The short answer is "Yes". We should and will do that. I agree with Deputy Ó Ríordáin in this regard. I believe he will also agree with me that staff in our third level institutions, and across the public sector, changed their work practices and how they worked overnight. They did so in an emergency scenario. They showed great flexibility and I really respect and thank them for that. However, as we move from an emergency phase of the pandemic - and we all hope we are doing so - it is important that we have discussi…

Absolutely. I acknowledge the work of the Deputy's colleague, Senator Hoey, who I happened to meet this evening. There is a lot we can do in this space. I am proud of the progress we have made across the education sector, including in early years, primary and secondary education, with regard to being inclusive of people with additional needs. We have made some progress in the third level sector and there are statistics to back that up but we have not made enough. In many ways, the cliff edge for many students has m…

I thank the Deputy very much. The honest answer to the last part of the question is that it will be a matter for the discussions on the Estimates. However, I take the point she makes about the need to ensure additional supports are brought in for September. It is right to say that what is announced in the budget will take effect from the calendar year 2023. I believe the Deputy is putting it up to me to see if we can do more from this September. I will certainly work on that basis. The programme for Government cont…

I thank the Deputy. Of course, we did take measures in this House to benefit students for this academic year. We changed the law in respect of student renters not once, but twice, to make sure that students could not be asked to pay more than one month's rent in advance or a deposit worth more than one month's rent. That was a significant issue and a solution was sought by students' unions with support from parties across this House. This could have a real and meaningful impact with regard to the amount of money st…

I accept some of the matters the Deputy has highlighted and the need for improvement. I particularly agree with her on the issue of part-time students. We need to do some work on defining what a part-time student is. I do not say that in any smart or flippant way. Obviously, there are many different types of part-time courses. What constitutes a part-time student for the purposes of the grant involves genuine technical and somewhat legal issues that we will need to work through. We should do that and we will do tha…

I do not wish to make the Deputy uncomfortable, but I found myself agreeing with him during the previous Question Time. I find myself similarly thinking that there is merit in the issue he has raised this evening. I have done some work on it and I am committing now to intensify that work to try to get a positive outcome. The nationality requirements for the student grant scheme are set out in section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011 and regulation 5 of the Student Support Regulations 2021. The candidate's nationa…

I thank the Deputy for the information and for the constructive way in which he is approaching this. I am very open and want to do more in this area. Since I came to office, we have already made three changes to try to support students coming to Ireland. First, we removed the requirement for prospective applicants coming in through our international protection system to have attended three academic years in the Irish school system and to have obtained a leaving certificate. I thought that was a ridiculous requireme…

I thank the Deputy. I was merely stating that issues relating to immigration policy are matters for the Department of Justice. I agree with the Deputy that issues relating to widening access to education are very much the responsibility of my Department. We do not shirk that nor do we pass it to any other Department. The approach I take is that it is always of benefit to provide access to education for people in our country regardless of nationality, circumstances, background, gender or any other matter. We have al…

I am very conscious of the challenges faced by students with student accommodation. My Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are working closely together on these issues. As everyone in this House will know, the underlying issue is one of supply. We need to increase the supply of all types of accommodation, including student accommodation. That is why we launched Housing for All, led by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage which sets out a series of actions which…

I join the Deputy in congratulating Dr. Orla Flynn. I think she will be an excellent president. I wish her luck and look forward to Atlantic Technological University coming into being shortly. The Deputy has hit the nail on the head. One of the institutions is already asking what it can do locally. For the first time here we are making a shift in policy and having an open-door policy for any local solution or idea that can come forward, particularly those with immediate solutions for September. More broadly, though…

I probably do not have time to engage on the Deputy's last point, but let me offer some statistics. While I accept there needs to be new policy initiatives and policy levers, some of which I have outlined, it is important to say that since 2016 we have seen 12,149 purpose-built student bed units built. Work is under way on-site on an additional 3,128 units and planning permission has been obtained for a further 10,493 units. In addition, planning permission for a further 1,028 units has been applied for. I just wan…

I thank Deputy Flaherty for the question and for highlighting the important issue of apprenticeships. I am pleased to say that significant progress is being made in realising the ambition for apprenticeship set out in the Action Plan for Apprenticeship, which I was pleased to publish in April of last year. The further development and mainstreaming of apprenticeship in Ireland through the creation of a single unified apprenticeship system has a key role to play in meeting Ireland's skills needs in a manner that pres…

I agree fully with the Deputy about the need to continue to promote apprenticeships. We have done this in a number of ways. For the very first time, leaving certificate students, when they go onto the CAO website, cao.ie/options , now see all their options, including apprenticeships, not just the university route. I always say to students about this place, so I will say it to the face of everyone here, that we always talk about building more houses in here. If every Member of the Dáil got together, we probably woul…

I thank Deputies Flaherty and Gould. In relation to rural and provincial Ireland, I am pleased we have €430 million in capital funding to spend on further and higher education. From memory, 45% of that will go to further education. I was talking to Longford-Westmeath ETB yesterday. Capital calls are open for each ETB to come forward with projects. There is a short deadline. It is the first week of April. Let us get these projects in and start opening more apprenticeship centres around the country. Good progress has…