Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator not just for her contribution today, but for her engagement with me over the lifetime of this Department so far. I very much appreciate it. Before she ever told me, I knew she went to Ballyfermot College because when I go to the college they tell me very regularly that she went there because they are very proud of their link with her. We both attended a graduation ceremony in the Helix a couple of years ago. I was out at Ballyfermot College just before Christmas, when we gave the go ahead for its capital renovation project, which the staff are very excited about. It is a superb college and has been for a very long time. It has a very long, proud track record of producing top-quality graduates in key areas with great employment prospects. The building is not what it needs to be. The staff know that and we know that and we have given them the go-ahead. I do not know the answer on the level 6 nursing course, but we will check it out and I will come back to the Senator directly on that.

On precarity, in the interests of time I will send the committee a note on this as it has done a lot of work on precarious employment in our universities. The short answer from me on this is that as we increase core funding and give our universities more money to hire more staff, with that obviously must be a move away from short-term fixed contracts and the like. Last year there was an uplift of about 1,500 people. We have to finalise the figure but this year there will be an uplift of around 1,000, subject to Government approval. We are talking about an extra 2,500 posts going into higher education. We, with the HEA and the institutions, need to monitor that in order that when the employment numbers and posts go up, precarity will start to go down.

I have a couple of points on disability. As this committee straddles both Departments of education, there is a really important piece of work we need to do that is exactly what the Senator said. There are a lot of really good courses available for people with disabilities post-school. There are not enough and we have a body of work to do around consistency of approach to supports and Deputy Farrell's colleague, Deputy Ó Murchú is doing good work with me around the personal assistance and things we need to do. Having said that, there is still a lot there, but sometimes it is like the third secret of Fatima for a parent, who has enough going on with a child who has additional needs, to navigate their way. There is a joint piece of work done by the two Departments around career guidance. For example, there is no career guidance in a special needs school. In fairness to both Departments there is now a way forward, but this committee could help us usefully monitor how we will continue to provide better pathways. We will be making a new announcement in early February on PATH 4, which is a roll-out of courses for people with intellectual disabilities across higher education. I am very excited about it. It is basically building on the model of the Trinity centre for people with intellectual disabilities and asking why we say it is great to have that in Trinity while it is not in Cork, Galway or wherever else. I am happy to keep in touch on that.

On disadvantage, such as access to laptops and the like, we did a very big investment in the form of thousands and thousands of laptops for students, so I might get a view from the institutions on how that went. We now have the Reach Fund, a dedicated fund for educational disadvantage each year. I think there is €6 million available in it. I know it is making a difference because I visit the projects and it is the way forward.

On the Traveller community, I would like to listen and learn from Senator Flynn. I have met Pavee Point and others in respect of this matter.

We are using moneys from the Dormant Accounts Fund for an apprenticeship incentivisation scheme for members of the Traveller community. The pre-apprenticeship course can be a very attractive model because it allows people to get a taste, or sample, of an apprenticeship before delving into it fully. We are very open to ideas. The one area where we are not hitting our targets in the national access plan is on Traveller participation at third level. I am being blunt. It is not just due to a lack of financial resources. There are clearly other issues on which we need to work together. I am up for listening, learning and doing more on that.

This is the final point I would like to make. I acknowledge that Deputy Clarke raised in the committee a long time ago the example of single-parent families needing to access education on a part-time basis. The Deputy said they could not do it on a full-time basis. We did listen, and for the first time under the part-time scheme we will see people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds being able to access education part time in higher education and without the worry of fees. That is kicking off in September. I think we need to work together to monitor the impact of it.