I did not know that was the format.

I was not aware of that but I am more than happy to respond. If I do not get to all the issues in the brief time I have, I will write to the Deputy, if that is okay. The House has, on all sides, been in an almost "Father Ted" mode of asking whether there is anything to be said for another committee. The Cassells report came before an all-party committee, which decided it would be worth having an economic evaluation. Before the existence of my Department, that economic evaluation was commissioned, with input from th…

That is okay, but I do not want people who watch these proceedings at home to think I do not wish to answer the questions.

I am planning on a review of SUSI but I will see if we can expedite that based on the point Deputy Cairns made and I will write to her directly on it. The Deputy asked if the colleges know about the extra places, which is an important point. We went out to them. Of the 1,250 additional places, which is approximately a 3% increase, we identified 363 in health and education, where we asked if they could take on an extra student. The other 900 places will be divided up and given to each higher education institution ba…

All institutions funded through the Higher Education Authority should have received funding from the mental health pot, if we may call it that, and from the digital pot. Those institutions in the further education space that have not received it should receive funding through the education and training boards, the ETBs. I am aware that the Deputy and I are due to have a meeting next week on the Carlow issue. We can try to resolve it in relation to that. Deputy Murnane O'Connor is very passionate about the technolog…

I will ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, and will come back to the Deputy on the issue of engaging. It is always important that Government engages with people, so I hope that could happen. On the specific issue on lecturers and staffing, if people have underlying health conditions their health must be our priority. There are established protocols in primary, second level, and higher education with regard to how one goes about that in the workplace. On the funding for additional lecturers and so on, we have divided ou…

The review has not started yet. The Deputy will forgive me as I am just eight weeks in office. It is my intention to prioritise it. It is a key commitment in the programme for Government. The priority I have attached so far is to make sure the scheme this year understands the fact that the people's income can have changed during the year as a result of Covid-19. I met with SUSI on this recently, and also on making changes for people living in direct provision. Any other announcements about the review, grant limits …

I thank the Deputy and I will respond to him in writing on those issues. The Deputy is exactly right about the new appreciation we all have for teachers and other people working throughout the education system. I look forward to working with Deputy Carey on trying to drive investment. I saw some very positive investment in regard to the further education facility in Ennis in recent days and I look forward to working with him and to having the opportunity to visit there shortly.

I thank the Deputy. If we were in normal times, I would organise a briefing in the audiovisual room. However, I hope to organise an online briefing for Oireachtas Members on the SUSI grant system with SUSI officials. I know we are all getting a lot of queries into our offices, so I will arrange for that to happen very shortly. I want to make sure there is flexibility this year. SUSI officials usually assess people based on last year's income, and they have made sure this time - I met them last week specifically on …

I will send the Deputy a note on the technicalities in regard to how that is done but I believe it is working quite well. If the Deputy's belief is to the contrary, I will come back to him on that. On the issue of accommodation, there are two points. First, we do not have enough college-owned accommodation. There is an issue at present, as the Deputy will know from his own constituency, in regard to institutes of technology not being able to access funding to build on-site college accommodation in the way universit…

There certainly should not be. Through the Higher Education Authority, we have effectively given a quota to each higher education institution. We have ordered almost 17,000 in bulk and they are distributed. Legally, I think they may remain in the ownership of the college but they are given to the student, and there absolutely should not be any fee associated with that.

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh. I look forward to having our own stand-alone question time in September so we can tease these issues out. I am very conscious that this is an important time for students finishing second-level education and hoping to progress to employment, further education and training or higher education. My own Department and the Department of Education and Skills are working to ensure that this onward transition can happen as smoothly and equitably as possible. On 16 July it was announced by the De…

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for those questions. I made similar inquiries about mental health supports this morning. The €3 million in additional funding that we have provided has been allocated to the Higher Education Authority. That body will now distribute it among the individual institutions. I expect it to be used to increase the capacity of the counselling services that are in place in colleges. As I get a breakdown of that, I will be more than happy to communicate it to the Deputy in writing. Regarding the t…

Withdraw that.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." It is a great pleasure to present to the House the Ministers and Secretaries and Ministerial, Parliamentary, Judicial and Court Offices (Amendment) Bill 2020, which passed all Stages in the Seanad yesterday. This Bill establishes, for the first time in the history of the State, a Department focused on further and higher education, research, innovation and science. We will now have a Department whose chief remit will be the further and higher education needs of our …

That is not true.

This amendment is about ensuring that the Government can allow anybody who is entitled to the allowance already by virtue of attending the Cabinet as a Minister of State to draw down that allowance. There is a real stench of hypocrisy from some speakers in this House. Deputy Doherty argued that Ministers should be reducing their salaries. Sinn Féin Ministers in government in Northern Ireland accepted a pay increase in April. During the height of the pandemic their pay went up. I presume Sinn Féin Ministers will be …

Give it back. Why not give it back then?

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for his questions. Regarding the July stimulus, I agree that it has to be two-sided. One side has to concern economic stimulus, but the other side has to be about the individual citizens of our country and how we can help them. I assure the Deputy that there will be a focus in the July stimulus on helping to get people back to learning and into apprenticeships and on the many other ways in which we can help people to get their lives back on track through utilising our public services and…

I am-----