Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his continuing engagement and I also thank his officials. I am a member of the Oireachtas transport committee. This afternoon Mr. Jim Meade, the chief executive of Irish Rail, came before the committee. I do not know whether the Minister is familiar with his CV but he began as an apprentice mechanic. He went in at 18 years of age and worked his whole way up from a tool bag to chief executive of the organisation. It is fantastic, as is the colour with which he can speak about Irish Rail when he is before the committee. He understands every role in the organisation. Even nicer than this, three or four times a week when I get the train to Dublin and meet the staff at Colbert Station in Limerick they speak very fondly of their chief executive. I would say this is quite rare in an organisation. He has literally worked from the floor up. He has a very important role and a busy role. I ask the Minister to tap into his resources once or twice a year. The Minister is doing great work advocating for apprenticeships. This is someone who should be flanking him on one or two of these occasions to speak about his experience.

Indeed, he should be used to some degree in marketing or whatever campaigns the Department has.

One of the issues we raised with him is the idea of students commuting. I agree with the Minister that students should have the on-campus experience where at all possible. Those are the four best years of your life, if it is four years. For some it is longer and for others it is shorter. It is not all the academic stuff; it is falling in the door at 4 a.m. and going places with your friends. It is so important. Life gets serious very quickly afterwards, as probably all of us in the room know.

At a time of an accommodation crisis, many students are commuting. There are many specific and bespoke constraints to each campus. I can think of one in the University of Limerick. There is the black bridge, as we call it. It is a bridge that links counties Clare and Limerick. It was built during the 1940s when Ireland believed it was heading into a world war. Our Defence Forces built it as a quick way of moving the Defence Forces across one county to the other. I am a bit of a local history buff. It was built in the 1940s and it has withstood floods and everything one can imagine. I do not know who made the executive decision but in 2019, the university, both local authorities, the Department of Defence and the OPW collectively decided it needed to be closed down because it was not safe as floods travel down the River Shannon in the winter. If that bridge was reopened, there is a population of 15,000 in Clare who could access the university campus without having to come through the city environment every day. There are bus and train services that cease to operate at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. I am just thinking of the mid-west but I am sure it is the same everywhere in the country. If students have finished their lectures and want to fraternise with the people on the course and go for a meal or a few drinks on campus, they cannot because they have to rush to get the train.

The solutions for much of this lie beyond the Minister’s Department but I hope at Cabinet he could speak up and say, particularly to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that there has to be a way of adjusting things. We do not have to revamp or flip everything over head on heels but surely make an adjustment.

The next issue I wish to raise is QQI verification for individuals who undertake the famous green certificate course to become a farmer. This has an agricultural heading to it but also belongs in the realm of Revenue because a young farmer under the age of 35 who has completed a green cert qualifies for young trained farmer relief with Revenue. This means that if your mam, dad, uncle or whomever is passing a farm over as a farm succession, the young farmer gets a huge discount in stamp duty. It makes it very viable. I did a green certificate myself many moons ago. The problem is not the Department of agriculture or Revenue; rather it is QQI, which verifies the level 5 and level 6 examinations. It has damn-all concern to a 28- or 29-year-old doing that course. He or she can wait five or six years. However, I came across a few scenarios since I have become a TD where 34-year-olds wait for months for QQI to verify their grades and exams and, suddenly, they reach their 35th birthday, and all hope of getting this reduced stamp duty goes with it. This administrative delay stacked on someone’s desk somewhere means that a young man or woman reaches their 35th birthday and that stamp duty relief that Cabinet approved just disappears in front of them. It is devastating. In October, I saw a youngster get a €28,000 stamp duty bill when it should have been next to zero. It is an administrative issue. Perhaps the Department can issue a circular to QQI stating it should do an age audit and if there is someone in that stack who is aged 33 or 34, they need to pulled and verified, for better or worse, and then move them into the approved phase.

I am nearly finished. I just want to squeeze in two quick questions. There are many language schools in all Irish cities. It is a survival skill; you have to have language when you come to a country. People spend a couple of years there and then come out with really good language skills. However, I have never been sure what the pathway is thereafter. It is a ripe, fertile ground for the Minister because he is always promoting continued education, be it apprenticeships or third level. There must be some pathway. None of us are sure where people go when they have completed a language course. I would love to know whether there is something next.

Finally, the UL presidential house in Killaloe, County Clare sold for €790,000 prior to Covid. A second presidential home was then built for €2.2 million and there was then a third presidential home. Much of that was built with philanthropic funding. The latest I heard is the third presidential home is not being lived in on a full-time basis. Will the Minister make inquiries? At a time youngsters are couch surfing and sleeping on the backseats of cars on campus at night, do all third level presidents have accommodation provided and is it being used? There is the whole ethical issue and the optics. We live in a world of optics. We get crucified by optics. If they have luxurious, superfluous accommodation on campus, they should be using it or at least selling it on. If they do sell it, that money should go into the accommodation pot of the campus.

I thank the Minister for all his efforts. I am sorry about the curveball question at the end.