Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the committee. It is a very long list of topics, which I am delighted to try to cover. I will cover some of them in my opening statement and then, no doubt, we will pick some of them up in the exchanges.

In budget 2024, we worked to secure what is objectively a significant cost-of-education package for third-level students. This included a €1,000 reduction in the contribution fee, benefiting 96,000 students, increases in the student grant scheme that took effect from January and, importantly, a reintroduction of postgraduate supports for the first time since the economic crash. Since the start of this year, that has meant that student grants have increased by up to €342 for the period January to May. Postgraduate maintenance grants will return on a similar basis to undergraduates, also for the first time since the economic crash. That is up to €2,384 extra being put back into the pockets of postgraduate students.

One of the changes we announced on budget day that I am most enthused about and that I think has the potential to be transformative for our education sector - we have discussed it at this committee on many occasions - is that, for the first time ever, the free fees scheme will be extended to part-time students. I would be the first to acknowledge that it is only a start, but that will mean that for any eligible student on a qualifying programme earning less than €55,924, the free fees initiative can apply. That is significant. We have heard at this committee, and the committee has held hearings, about the challenges and obstacles that can present to people who need to access education part-time, perhaps a one-parent family, a person with a disability or somebody trying to hold down a job and access education at the same time. I know the committee is very much united behind that agenda and I want to work with the committee to establish how we progress this over the year and how we monitor its impact. This will be only year one but it is something we should try to build on together in the years ahead.

In addition to that, when it comes to core funding, we have increased funding to both our higher education and our further education sectors. This includes an additional €60 million to address the core funding challenge our universities face and a further €67 million to invest in our apprenticeship system.

Since we last met, we have also progressed a significant new policy approach as regards student accommodation with the support of the Government last week. Colleagues may be aware that, on Friday in DCU, the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and O'Brien, and I launched that policy approach. It is a significant policy change. We talk about this regularly during Question Time in the Dáil. It is a recognition by me and the Government that we can no longer have a student accommodation strategy that is so heavily reliant on the private market to build accommodation. This strategy tries to switch that dial. Effectively, for the first time, the State will now invest public money, taxpayers' money, in assisting with the construction of student housing in and near college campuses.

Our first priority is to activate projects with planning permission. In the middle of a housing crisis, to have projects that have planning permission and that can go to construction but have not is not sustainable. Two of those projects have now gone to tender, with 521 beds across Dublin City University and Maynooth, both of which will go to construction this year. The Government also gave my Department approval to advance engagement to construct a further 2,500 beds across UCD and Trinity and more in DCU. Funding will be sought to advance this through the NDP review, which has already commenced.

The next phase is even more exciting, and that is to advance plans to construct student accommodation in our technological universities. I do not need to stress to committee members here, all of whom represent the regions, that the success of our TUs is real and already impactful. To take it to the next step, however, in terms of both regional development and providing people with an opportunity to come to the regions to live and study there, we need to provide accommodation. That work starts with correspondence that will issue from me to our technological universities outlining the next steps and then a call from the Higher Education Authority for proposals, which will be assessed shortly thereafter.

We are also pursuing a long-term policy change, which the Government approved last week. This is important too. We have heard from student unions throughout the country and from parents about the importance of standardised design. It is one thing if the State is not involved in funding, but if the State is involved in funding, we need to ask what we are funding and we need to make sure we are funding the sort of student accommodation students want. Quite frankly, they do not want to pay for frills they did not ask for while then being expected to pay for them through their rent. It is a matter of working with the Department of housing to agree standardised design to ensure accommodation costs are kept down while standards are kept up. Design times and rents, therefore, should come down too.

We continue to promote and advance digs provision through the rent-a-room scheme. It is working for many students. It does not necessarily work for everybody but it is another part of the mix. We are also developing a devolved grant to help our universities repurpose appropriate vacant building stock, either on campus or elsewhere.

Another point of interest came up through the engagement with students. A total of 22,801 students took part in a survey on student accommodation. That shows the level of interest. As regards the 22,801 people who took part, I was quite taken by how strong their views and attitudes around public transport were.

It was not a surprise to me. I had heard it many times. Exciting proposals could emerge around the development of local and rural transport and could make an impact in revitalising a nearby town or village so people could live there and commute to a university. All of this would inform the development of a new student accommodation strategy and the associated schemes, which will be developed across this year in consultation with Government.

With the Chair's permission I will mention a few other items on which the committee asked me to comment. I again thank and praise this committee for its work on North-South relations and education and an all-island approach to education. I thank it for its work, and a good report came from this committee. One of its recommendations related specifically to the issue of A levels and the equivalence with the leaving certificate. As a result of that, we worked with the ESRI, which did a helpful piece of work I was pleased to launch. I also thank Universities Ireland, the representative body for all universities on the island, in particular the leadership of Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, who chaired a group that recommended significant and important changes. Everybody here knows admissions policies are a matter for the universities themselves, but I am pleased at how they have embraced these recommendations. The current situation states it is only possible to achieve the maximum 625 points by taking four A levels and one of them has to be maths. Colleagues will know that the majority of students do not take four A levels. There was therefore a huge barrier. Universities Ireland has recommended A level candidates be allowed use the three best A levels in combination with a fourth A level, AS level or an extended project; or with two A levels and two AS level. That is quite a change. This means applicants can attain a score of 600 points on the basis of these two scenarios, or 625 points if one of the A levels is maths. For those not familiar with the system, for it is a different system, at a high level and a basic level it means it will be easier for students from Northern Ireland to access education in other parts of the island of Ireland.

Other issues need to be worked out and other barriers came up, both in the ESRI report and the Universities Ireland work. I thank Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, President of Galway University and chair of Universities Ireland for driving this project. This is some good progress. I welcome that a number of universities have confirmed they will implement this from next September. I understand the remainder will do so from September 2025. However, it is important that clarity is given to students quickly. My Department has also sought to progress work to secure places for students from this jurisdiction in medical schools in Northern Ireland. Under this approach, students would be eligible to apply for an internship in the HSE on graduation. My officials have been working closely with their counterparts in the departments of health and economy and, obviously, the institutions in Northern Ireland over the past 18 months to develop a proposal. This which would lead to more medical places for Irish students in the North and increase the pool of Irish medical graduates educated on the island who would be eligible to apply to work in the HSE. Final details of the proposal are being worked through, but I expect to be in a position to make a further announcement within a few weeks.

I know the committee also wishes to discuss ongoing work to increase healthcare and veterinary places across higher education. Colleagues will know that, over the past two years, we have increased the number of medicine places for EU students by 120, the number of nursing places by 290, and the number of places in key therapies by 273. We know there is more to do. We now have, as a result of an extensive expressions of interest process, which I thank the HEA for running, a list of really exciting options to consider. Many of the members will know them from their local universities. We will be looking to see how we can advance these with the Department of Health with regard to the capital review. I am working closely with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and the Department of agriculture on the next steps on veterinary schools. We had an excellent meeting recently and I know we are both determined to work together to increase veterinary provision in Ireland.

I will speak briefly on apprenticeships, where a large body of work is under way on apprenticeship capacity. The year, 2024, has to be the year where we talk about reform of the apprenticeship system. It cannot just be the year where we talk about capacity. It cannot just be the year where we promote apprenticeships, but I assure the committee we will be continuing to do both. We saw a record number of people register to be apprentices last year. However, we need to look at the system. We need to move to a single system of apprenticeships. We cannot and should not have, in any way shape or form, a craft system in one place, a consortia-led system in another and neither of the two meet. It is certainly not about one side becoming dominant or taking over the other. It is about picking the best aspects of both and creating a single modern system that works for everybody. Apprenticeship pay and terms and conditions and how we look after and support them will have to be a part of that conversation. I have just received draft proposals on this, and a final report is due in the coming weeks. We will then engage with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, and with trade union and business partners at the subcommittee of the LEEF. I pause there and I am happy to take questions.