The Deputy makes a fair point. It is one of the reasons I very much welcome the fact that, on the advice of public health, we can keep access to college libraries and the likes open, albeit on a scheduled and organised basis, because there may be some students in this country who decide they would rather remain in accommodation they have organised near the campus and continue to access those sorts of facilities. It has been, and is, a significant priority for me in the context of the shift to online teaching and le…

I will check that issue and revert to the Deputy on it. Among the potential sites for the proposed pilots to which I referred a moment ago are broadband connection points, public libraries, museums, municipal buildings, public transport, airports, some of which are already being availed of in that regard, and public areas. In other words, we should try to light up anywhere that is within the remit of the State or its agencies with access to Eduroam. That way, wherever our students or staff are, they can log on and …

Their institution is the first port of call, probably the access office. I am pleased that the public health advice allows us not to return to the situation that pertained for higher education in March. Education will overwhelmingly be done online, and there is no disputing that, but we have a flexibility in terms of vulnerable learners and people who may have issues accessing or learning at home for a variety of reasons that we need not get into because that is people's own personal, private business. There is fle…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and for the conversations we have had on it recently. I know the Deputy sees the benefit of the technological universities, as do I, not just from an educational point of view, which is massive, but also from the points of view of regional development and job creation. I already know there are companies in the Deputy's region that cite the availability of highly qualified graduates as a key draw to the region. If we can increase that even further, it can only be good for T…

I thank Deputy Lowry. I agree with him that a massive amount of work has been undertaken. I think more than 20 working groups are working across 30 different work packages to try to get to this point. I want to thank the project directors and the joint chairs from AIT and LIT for what have been years of work. It is up to them, but it is to be hoped that they will arrive at a point where they can submit an application to me very shortly. I believe they are trying to do that by the end of the year. The timeline the D…

I thank Deputy Lowry. I will undertake to keep him informed. To give him a sense of the scale of the transformation, my understanding is that under the new European universities initiatives the AIT and LIT consortium will join what is called RUN-EU which is a regional university network in the European Union. This is the way to create one of several new European universities capable of transcending languages, borders and disciplines. It is a project that is being worked on at EU level and is expected to be complete…

I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this matter. There are two issues. I took the words "student assistance fund" from the question. In regard to the student assistance fund of €16 million, which is available in all colleges across the Republic of Ireland, I can confirm that students from Northern Ireland are eligible to apply for support under that scheme. The Deputy is familiar with the scheme so I will not take the time to go through it. In regard to the €50 million once-off financial support scheme, it is my int…

I am delighted the Deputy asked me about that. I would be very pleased to meet him and other Deputies from Border counties, including Donegal. I have had a couple of really interesting meetings in recent days regarding North-South co-operation. I met the President of Queens University in his capacity as the president of Universities Ireland, which represents all the universities on the island of Ireland. I met the leader of the SDLP, Colum Eastwood, MLA, to discuss collaboration with Derry, which I know is an issue…

I will commit on the record to come back to Deputy Pringle on the figure of how many students from Northern Ireland are studying in the Republic. My own instinct is that it will be much higher than that. I wonder is it a designation issue or how people self-designate but I will ask the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and will revert to the Deputy.

My answer will be much the same as the one I gave to Deputy Barry because the question is very similar and important. I say on the record of the House that it is not right and I am clear on that. What am I doing about it? The first thing we did was to make amendments in August to the student support scheme which was welcomed by the Irish Refugee Council. I do not see this as the end. The expert group report which is looking at the whole issue of asylum direct provision and chaired by Dr. Catherine Day came to Cabin…

I do not have the numbers for the specific question but I have a number that is interesting. The number of people who applied under the administrative student support scheme for asylum seekers this year is at 86, as of 12 October. That is more than have applied and have been successful in the past five years put together. Over the past five years the figure was 79, from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, that is in those five academic years. In this year alone it has been 86 which is a welcome improvement. I have no …

We already discussed an issue in an earlier question, and the Deputy has rightly differentiated the two issues, and have already discussed what we are doing as to on-campus accommodation. We have a clear obligation in that regard for universities to provide refunds and such flexible solutions. As to private providers, I urge all providers to be flexible in finding solutions given the extraordinary circumstances in which students find themselves. This is not a normal year. I have to be truthful to the House in sayin…

The Deputy raises an interesting point on the CRSS. This is well outside the remit of my Department but I will raise it with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, and will revert to the Deputy on this issue. My understanding is that businesses which cannot continue to operate or operate at restrictive levels can avail of this support. It is a fair point to ask if these landlords fit into that category. I will check that and revert to the Deputy. What I have been focusing in trying to do is to pull the levers that…

While I agree with much of the sentiment of what the Deputy has said, how we make these things happen is the challenge we have in Government. We have tried to take all of the actions we can take that are at our disposal in terms of how we financially support students and their families, recognising that this has been a year of extraordinary challenge and one no student could have imagined. I do not wish to be argumentative at this hour of the night but I do not believe it is particularly fair to suggest we have bee…

I thank Deputy Durkan for the question. I am greatly concerned by the issues of both sexual harassment and bullying that have emerged in respect of both staff and students within higher education institutions. Our higher education institutions, HEIs, should be and must be a place of inclusivity, tolerance, respect and quality. Our higher education institutions have a duty of care to their students and staff, and a responsibility to foster a campus culture that is clear in the condemnation of unwanted and unacceptab…

I do not think any one of us can be surprised that in any workplace in any environment bullying and harassment can take place but to be honest I am surprised, and I do not consider myself as having lived under a rock, at the scale and amount of it I am hearing, particularly when it comes to sexual harassment and violence. I have convened the national advisory group, chaired by the National Women's Council of Ireland, which advised me on these issues. The Union of Students in Ireland, USI, are on it also along with …

I do not have that comprehensive information available to me tonight but I will get more information for the Deputy on it. I would refer to an example that is in the public domain. It is in respect of Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin who I have met on two occasions and am in contact with. The way she was treated was absolutely disgraceful. To get to the core of the Deputy's question, it is clear that in all cases they have not been dealt with properly, and Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin's case is an example. What we need to do …

They are in addition. The intention is that the total number, between the July stimulus and the budget, should be 50,000.

I agree with the Deputy.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 117, 483, 484 and 503 together. I announced on budget day the intention to have a full review of SUSI, which the Deputy has been calling for. It will start this year and conclude next summer. It is badly needed so we can plan in advance of the next budget what student supports need to look like now. SUSI has worked pretty well as a scheme but equally I believe things have moved on and the scheme needs to adjust. The two areas I am considering in regard to the €50 million student sup…