Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Currie for raising this issue. I would not not be here to take this because I know how sincere she is in her work on this, how sincere her dad, the great Austin Currie, was in relation to this work and to building peace on this island, and I know how incredibly important he and his colleagues in the SDLP, especially John Hume, identified education to be. We have to go back to well before my time in public life, decades back to the peace marches, which highlighted education as key to embedding peace. Of course education for education's sake is extraordinarily important, particularly when you look at cities like Derry where there had been an underprovision of it. However, education is also a way of getting to know each other as a non-threatening enabler for peace.

I met the great Senator George Mitchell, who played such a huge role in our peace process here, very recently. I met him in his role as Chancellor Emeritus of Queen's University Belfast. We discussed how I genuinely believe the next phase in terms of peace building and a shared island, or whatever people wish to call it, but getting to know each other better and working and living together in peace, has to be education. The Senator is so right to highlight this because there is what I believe is low-hanging fruit, quite frankly, in terms of what more we can do. I absolutely wanted to be here to assure her that I am dedicated to working with her and others, to find ways to further develop and support education on an all-island basis.

The ESRI report which, I was honoured to launch last month, really did show both the scale of the challenge for all the reasons the Senator highlighted in terms of the numbers and where we are versus where we wish to be, but also some practical things that could be done. That is why I actually found the report to be quite positive and I said this to the authors of the report. It was not just a report that defined the problem or came up with lofty solutions. It was actually a report that gives us a concrete action plan as to what we need to do. On the back of that I am absolutely determined to work to make progress. It goes without saying that higher education institutions are autonomous. We know that is the case. It is for them to decide their admissions policy. No one wants me doing that. Despite this, there is a positive role we can play - I want to play it - in helping, supporting and resourcing universities on the island of Ireland, North and South, to do more in this space.

I welcome the fact that an expert working group has been established by Universities Ireland,which operates on an all-island basis for all universities on the island of Ireland. It is expected to report on this issue of CAO reform, if we call it that, by the end of 2023. The membership of the working group comprises senior representatives from institutions North and South. I thank them for that. It is chaired by the excellent Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, deputy president and registrar of University College Galway, who, coincidentally, was chair of the CAO for several years. I have indicated to the group that my officials are available to support it in its work.

The most recent analysis shows that 1,660 Northern Ireland domiciled students are in higher education institutions in this jurisdiction. There are 2,305 students from this jurisdiction studying in Northern Ireland. As the Senator noted, we have tried to show real commitment in respect of education on an all-island basis. We have put in place for the first time ring-fenced places in Northern Ireland for students from the Republic in key healthcare and therapy areas. For example, 200 places in nursing have been made available in universities in Derry and Belfast for students from this jurisdiction, while 50 have been made available in therapy disciplines in Ulster University, with 20 of them in occupational therapy and ten in speech and language. That is an achievement of which we are extremely proud, and we wish to build on it.

I have written to all institutions in Ireland, asking them to explore the possibility of ring-fencing places for students from Northern Ireland. If universities in the North are ring-fencing places for students from this jurisdiction, should we consider doing likewise? I am very open to that. It is a matter for the institutions but I am open to providing financial assistance if required.

The Senator referred to the work we have done in respect of the Erasmus programme. We are now funding research on an all-island basis through the shared island unit. I am happy to meet the secondary school union from Northern Ireland with the Senator. That could be useful. I see this as an education issue but also as a peace and prosperity issue on which we need to make progress.