I acknowledge that. How to do it in a sustainable manner is a question all of us in this House will have to face up to. This is not a partisan comment but I do believe there has been a generation of political cowardice in regard to the question of a sustainable funding model for higher education. We have the Cassells report. The previous Oireachtas, on an all-party basis, asked for an economic evaluation. It is currently under way with the input of the European Commission and it is due back at the start of 2021. Th…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 492 together. One of the reasons my Department was established was to recognise that there needs to be an interface between the education system at higher education level and industry regional skills fora. Education has a massive value above and beyond economic, of that there is no doubt, but we also need to have a robust higher education system to deliver the jobs of the future and to ensure that Ireland's competitiveness is protected. I genuinely believe the battle in the …

I am, but we can only manage to maintain our competitiveness if we do not stand still and do not get complacent or too comfortable in terms of where we stand. We have seen great progress in Ireland over the last decade or so. Recent figures from the CSO Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2018 highlighted that Ireland has the highest rate of STEM graduates at 3.2% of population aged 20-29. This is an increase of one place since the 2017 figures and, encouragingly, it is well above the EU average of 1.9%. The report also h…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for my first opportunity to address the new Seanad and to be here as Minister for the new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. I am very excited about the establishment of this new Department and the opportunity to work with Members of Seanad Éireann. There is a wealth of knowledge, experience and interest in the House on a cross-party and cross-grouping basis in areas to do with further and higher education, research, innovation and science, and ho…

To reply to Deputy Conway-Walsh's question, as the Deputy will know, on 5 August, a very detailed implementation advice regarding public health and the return to third level education was published. A huge amount of work has been undertaken by the sector, including by the Union of Students of Ireland, which sits on a group that meets every Friday that I attend also. It will meet again in the morning. We are now examining the further measures that need to be taken in respect of the latest NPHET advice regarding Dubl…

I thank the Deputy for the question. One of the few jurisdictions that has higher fees is Northern Ireland. I presume the same logic would apply in terms of the Deputy wanting to see a reduction in fees in Northern Ireland where Sinn Féin is in government and where the fees are £4,395 sterling per annum and students, therefore, are leaving colleges in Northern Ireland heavily indebted through a student loan system that I view as wholly unfair. Under the Department’s free fees schemes, the Exchequer provides funding…

I agree with the Deputy. Opportunities that are often available to students will not be available in the current college year, the most obvious being employment opportunities. Many students work part time to supplement the cost of living and the cost of going to college. For this reason, we decided to make a targeted intervention this year in doubling the student assistance fund. This fund is available through access offices in colleges and universities around the country for students who fall on hard times, in add…

I very much welcome the survey done by the Deputy and it is important to directly hear the voices of students. In 2015, the State was investing approximately €1.4 billion of Exchequer funds in higher education and that has now risen to €1.8 billion. When we add the SUSI costs, the figure rises above €2 billion. We need to do more and the programme for Government commits us to doing more. We can consider the SUSI support schemes. I remember when SUSI was introduced. It brought about much improvement as it removed fr…

I was delighted to see this question as I had an exciting meeting the other day with representatives of HEAnet, the organisation that is involved in rolling out technological solutions for students. The Deputy knows that eduroam is a Wi-Fi system used not just by students on campus in Ireland but around the world. HEAnet is in the process of developing proposals to see how this eduroam Wi-Fi system can be made available off campus as well as on campus. The Deputy's question concerns how to roll out connectivity wit…

I suggest we engage on this matter if the Deputy wishes to send me some proposals in this regard. We fund the HEA through the innovation and transformation fund and I have a long list of projects I could read out that it is already funding. The Deputy has identified a real need, particularly in some of the more rural parts of the country. HEAnet is funded through the HEA and it is seeking pilot projects where it can roll out connectivity. That includes going from on-campus sites to those which would be off campus. …

The Deputy has honestly highlighted what is a very delicate balance. Deputies in the House are quite rightly calling on me to ensure we provide extra college places and it is perfectly appropriate. At the same time, we must meet the needs of existing students, and all in a world of Covid-19, where health and safety must come first. As I stated, I expect all students to receive details of their on-site versus off-site learning mix in the first two weeks of September, and I am conscious we are through one of those we…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 and 51 together. I was very grateful to Deputy Conway-Walsh for wanting to transfer questions in order to highlight this matter as I know the issue is important and timely. This year has been one like no other, and it was a year when a leaving certificate class could not do a leaving certificate exam. At every twist and turn, everybody in this House and across society has wanted to see a system that is as fair as possible put in place to protect the integrity of the leaving certi…

I acknowledge the Deputy's and Deputy Ó Laoghaire's constructive engagement on this issue. I have looked at all the options because this year calls for us to look at absolutely everything we can possibly do. The clear advice available to me, and I am happy to write to the Deputy on this, is that the ring-fencing of places is legally fraught for a variety of reasons, principally on the basis that if a 2020 student missed out versus a 2019 student, and there are a number of issues in that regard, the idea of recalcul…

I agree with much of what the Deputy said. Let us hope a year like this year never happens again. It has been an extraordinary year that nobody could predict. I welcome what the Deputy said. There has been an effort by some, not the Deputy, perhaps to pit one year group against the other. Every student and year group has experienced a difficult impact as a result of the pandemic. The class of 2020 has had a rotten year. The people of 2019 are now concerned. There has been anxiety and stress for everybody. We are al…

I thank the Deputy for this important question. The short answer is that I will. I have already spoken to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, about this. He was planning a meeting with the Union of Students in Ireland, USI. That either has taken place or will take place shortly. The union has a number of proposals that it wants the Minister to consider and he wants to engage with USI on that. I will support him and the union in any way I can in progressing that. With regard to students having to pay fees upfront,…

I welcome the Deputy's kind words for the staff of SUSI. I met them last week and it is incredible that almost all of them have to work remotely to keep everybody safe and follow public health guidance. They are still managing to process a serious amount of applications so I join the Deputy in thanking them. I asked for a note from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government on private accommodation in light of the Deputy's question. Students who are renting private accommodation under a lease are enti…

The appeals process and the standardisation is a matter for the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, and I will pass on details of the issue raised by the Deputy regarding that family in Tipperary to her. My understanding is that the appeals process opens on Monday but in addition to that, the marks that teachers gave to students will also be provided to all students from next week. I would make the point that a standardisation process needed to be put in place. We are already dealing with the issue of …

I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this important matter, which he also raised with me last week during a debate on these matters. This is a very serious issue and as the Deputy is aware, I have allocated an additional €5 million for mental health supports. Admittedly, €2 million of that was a budget day announcement of additional funding and then a further €3 million was announced as part of the Covid-19 reopening plan, giving a total of €5 million more. In advance of this question, I got a breakdown by institutio…

It is objectively one of the largest increases we have seen for student mental health services in many years but whether it is enough is always a fair question. Do I want to continue to invest more? Of course I do. The Deputy asked what will happen with the funding and what the institutions will do with it and that is a key question. I have outlined in my answer what we want them to do with the funding. We want them to hire more student counsellors and psychologists and to beef up their services in order that stude…

I assure the Deputy that we will do that. I am more than happy to keep the Deputy and the House updated in that regard.