Again, I do not wish to pre-empt the outcome of the report. I have said before on the record of the House that I do not favour the model in place in Northern Ireland and do not want to see our students coming out of college laden with debt. I do not want to see the fear or perception of debt being a barrier to access for certain families either. I am very pleased we have the SUSI review under way. This is something one will never hear anybody say, but 44% of students attending higher education today have their regi…

I thank Deputy Griffin not just for the question but also for his support and work on the delivery of this technological university, not just in recent months but over a sustained period with my predecessor, Deputy McHugh, and others. This is a potential game changer for the south west of our country. The opening of Ireland's newest technological university on 1 January, just days away now, will mean that, for the first time ever, Tralee will be a university town. It will mean that people will be able to access uni…

I very much look forward to visiting with the Deputy Munster technological university and its Kerry campus. I am particularly pleased that in the past week we have been able to announce the appointment of the new president for the technological university, only the second female president of a university in Ireland in about 450 years, a brilliant and eminent person by the name of Professor Maggie Cusack, coming to us from Scotland. I know she is really eager and enthusiastic about getting stuck in. I also pay tribu…

It is really important that the region owns this project. I have no doubt on that, having heard from the Deputy and others in County Kerry. It is a massive opportunity and investment. When I go to Kerry with the Deputy, I wish to speak to chambers of commerce and schools about the difference this will make to the people of the county and their lives. It is something we can support in Dublin financially, and we will do so every step of the way, but it needs to be owned and driven by the region, as I know it will. Wh…

I thank the Deputy for her consistent, persistent and determined advocacy in respect of Carlow College. I wish for the people of Carlow to know that we speak about the issue on a regular basis. I am looking forward to speaking to Fr. Conn Ó Maoldhomhnaigh, the president of Carlow College. As the Deputy is aware, my officials wrote to Carlow College to suggest that it carry out a piece of work relating to its future, financial sustainability and the likes. I have been honest about this from the start in stating that…

I thank the Deputy for his question. As he will know, postgraduate programmes are comprised of a range of elements designed to further the training and development of students. In particular, PhD students, in addition to conducting research, participate in other activities to develop generic and transferable skills. These activities are, and always have been, regarded as an integral part of their training and typically include teaching. Development of these skills is important in equipping postgraduate students for…

Just in case the Deputy missed some of my reply, let me be clear. I wish to acknowledge the points he has raised on this issue. I acknowledge the work of Noteworthy on this issue. I have read the article it published on the issue, possibly since I last discussed the matter with the Deputy, and I am concerned about the inconsistency of approach. For example, I am concerned that postgraduate students in receipt of a stipend from Science Foundation Ireland receive approximately €8,500, while those in receipt of a stip…

I am very happy to hear from the Postgraduate Workers Alliance, receive a submission from it and engage with it. I would welcome its views on this issue. Frankly, I need to have as much information as possible and we need to take a co-ordinated approach on the matter. We now have a new Department dedicated to higher education. It is appropriate that we apply a policy focus to some of these issues. It is also important to state that there are various views on this issue. I have met researchers, universities and stud…

The further and higher education sectors have a number of key strategies in place at all levels to ensure we meet existing and future skills demands. These include policies designed to ensure a pipeline of suitably qualified higher education graduates and apprentices - I am pleased that the Deputy mentioned apprentices - and initiatives to equip young people and the working population more generally with the skills and capacity to meet these demands. The identification of skills priorities to help to inform and sha…

There will be and I am pleased, as the first Minister in this new Department, to have a significant increase in funding already. Outside of the higher education places, we will be training an additional 50,000 people in 2021 compared to this year. That is part of our response, and we have more ambition in that regard. We engage regularly with IBEC. Its representatives sit on a number of the bodies I mentioned. I have had a number of meetings with IBEC since taking office. I will give an example of how the link with…

There is constant contact in the National Skills Council, which I attend regularly. It comprises key senior public officials and, crucially, industry leaders and representative bodies of industry working together. We cannot be complacent or rest on our laurels. Nobody owes us a living and the country must constantly be ready not just for the jobs of today but also those of the future. That has never been more pertinent than it will be in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, whenever that happens. The benefit I genu…

While I am mainly referred to as the Minister for higher education in the Department of higher education, that is only part of it. It is the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. That is not just to have a number of words in the title. The key element here is to bring some of the functions that were in the old Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation together with the higher education sector to plan for the future. The Taoiseach and the Government feel very strongly …

I am never fully satisfied. It would be a boring day in politics to be fully satisfied. I reckon the Deputy is never fully satisfied either. There is always more to do. This country has a proud tradition when it comes to research, innovation and science. Equally, however, we cannot rest on our laurels. We must do more in this area, we must be more ambitious and we must invest more in publicly funded research. Europe is moving in a direction of far more ambitious targets. I attended a Council meeting of research min…

That is something about which I am more than satisfied, given the ingenuity of the Irish people, the level of educational attainment in this country and our track record of working with industry and data on where the future skills needs and jobs will be. As a country that looks outward at a time when others choose to look inward, and wants to build new links and do more together, Ireland is very well placed to be a leader in this regard, but nothing is guaranteed. It is going to take a lot of work and I think that …

I thank Deputy O'Rourke for his question. I know he is interested in all these areas. In considering this issue, it is important to note that the State currently provides very substantial financial support to undergraduate students in higher education towards the cost of their studies. I have just announced a review of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, this week. Currently in Ireland, about 44% of students attending college have their fees paid for in full or in part by the student grant system. There is no …

That is a very valid question. Senior officials in my Department engage on a very regular basis - in fact it is every Friday morning - with representative bodies of the universities, the institute of technology sector, the Union of Students in Ireland and further education and training providers. I often attend as well. We continue to monitor and tease out issues in real time and consider issues that may be coming down the tracks regarding Covid and its impact on third level. That structure has worked pretty well. …

I think Deputy O'Rourke is a scientist so I will bow to his knowledge on that. I am sorry, I did not realise Deputy Conway-Walsh wished to speak.

I am certainly not ruling that out. I think we are right to keep a watching brief on all of those issues. One figure that I do have, which is perhaps in some way indicative of the financial impact of Covid on economic well-being, is the SUSI figures. They are provisional at the moment. From memory, I think approximately 72,500 people were awarded a SUSI grant last year and the total is approximately 77,000 this year. We have seen an increase in the number of people and that is even with the constraints of the curre…

I am pleased the Deputy mentioned medical graduates because I would not want to miss the Irish Medical Organisation too much due to the change in my brief. I am looking forward to meeting it in the new year on medical graduate training in Ireland. We need to have an important conversation about how we support medical students in this country. I look forward to coming back to the Deputy on that. It is important to note that postgraduate study in the higher education system in Ireland takes place across a very wide a…

I thank the Deputy. I doubt she means it like this but with my Department or the Government, there was no attempt to mislead anybody. I remember getting a letter from the deputy chief medical officer on the Friday telling us we needed to bring in additional precautions, and this effectively moved much college activity online. That decision was made and published on that Friday, so it was the moment we received the public health advice. The Deputy has been decent and fair enough to acknowledge that the situation has…