Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A number of issues came up. Deputy Naughten spoke about empathy and how we relate to each other. What we are hearing from companies is that they want empathy in their employees, so it is not just for children. It is also for adults. The Minister mentioned the behaviour of adults. On many occasions, I cringe when I see pupils from our primary and secondary schools coming to visit Dáil Éireann who then see the behaviour there, so empathy is important. That is what companies are telling us. They are telling us that they expect top academic qualifications but they also want the soft skills. Employers want these skills to ensure there is happiness in the workplace. In the past, competencies just involved literacy and numeracy and now probably include digital literacy, but all of the other competencies like collaboration, being able to work together and empathy are important.

Deputy O'Sullivan was out of the room when I paid tribute to the work she did on apprenticeships, which is continuing. Deputy Byrne asked about my delegation of duties. I am in charge of what we would call the new apprenticeships but my specific duties involve being in charge of the apprenticeships that are coming through the institutes of technology and the technological universities.

Someone asked about the status of the Cassells report. It was sent to the European structural reform support programme before 31 October. There is a body of work to be done in that regard. It is not said often enough that €157 million per annum in extra money has been pumped into higher education since 2016. We now have the biggest budget for higher education since the foundation of the State. There has been €157 million extra per annum since 2016. We responded to the Cassells report. Of course I know that the report pointed out that more investment in higher education is needed. We are looking for an economic evaluation from the structural reform support programme but there are data gaps within the Cassells report in respect of the very topics about which we have been talking today - apprenticeships and the money being spent on them. I also want to know about retention rates. What are the issues around retention rates? Do we need to spend more money on that? We are also going to look at graduate earnings and see how they will impact on students coming through because we want a fair playing field. I will also be asking the programme to look at the full income base of our higher education institutions and at the international student premium and the money it brings into the system, which was not covered in the Cassells report.

The Department itself is working on other areas. We are working on upskilling and reskilling. Again, it is very important that there is investment in these areas. Investment should not only be made in higher education but in everything else that is happening in that space.