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

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him. The Estimates are straightforward. Having read and understood them, I think this is welcome. We all wish we could do even more for students but this is a welcome measure. As Deputy Alan Farrell mentioned, we need to see the fees issue resolved in the longer term.

To stray slightly away from the Estimates, my questions are on mental health supports in our third level institutions. We need to aim to remove some of the financial pressures on students this year due to lack of part-time work and additional costs. Third level students have had an experience of college this year, which has been unlike any other year. The budget contained welcome announcements on mental health funding. I would like to see that followed through specifically into the third level area.

The Minister of State referred to some of the savings to come from the National Training Fund. It was inevitable that the full amount has not been spent given the Covid context. We are also aware of the programme for Government commitments on the need for housing and the need to retrofit housing, leading to an increased need for tradespeople in the coming years. This is outside today's discussion and the Minister of State may not be able to provide detail on it. Are we planning ahead to address that shortage in tradespeople? Looking ahead, do we foresee additional spending to get back to where we know we need to be after this?