Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that those affected by the error in the calculated grades process and who received an upward grade revision have been accommodated on college courses. I echo the concerns expressed by Deputy Conway-Walsh for the 2018-19 cohort of students. I am sure every one of us has a story of a constituent who would have made the grade in previous years but who has now fallen short by a very slim margin. If anything can be done for such people, that would be very welcome.

On the costs of attending third level in the new Covid-19 environment, good work has been done to try to close the digital divide in terms of funding hardware but I have a question regarding software. Software for particular courses in subjects like design, for example, can be very expensive. As I understand it, software providers were very accommodating in the last term and much of their very valuable software was provided free of charge in that interim period but that situation no longer pertains. We are closing the digital divide to some degree by funding hardware for third level students who are now, for the most part, attending college remotely. Are we also providing funding for software to allow students to participate fully in their courses?