Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope that student kept the Chairman long enough at the door to give us a chance; I am glad he was doing his job.

First, I recently visited Ballyfermot College of Further Education, BCFE, the principal, Ms Cecilia Monro, and her team. The building belies the extent of their work, particularly around animation, as well as on other things. I could feel the student-focused ethos of the College. I want to commend that. As I have often said, the colleges of further education have not had the capital investment they need. Yet, fantastic work is being done there. I encourage people all around the country to look at what is available through further education. I commend everybody involved there.

The proposal Dr. Ryan has made to advocate for the retention of the vaccination infrastructure in, or near, the institutes in August and September is significant. Has Dr. Ryan formally requested that from the public health department? It is a good idea. Even for September and October, where we do not yet have facilities, if each of the colleges could have a vaccination centre, that would be a worthwhile preventative measure.

Finally, can we now meet the demands of 100% of those who want to come to college on campus? Will there be a percentage of students who may be turned away? What is the capacity of the colleges? There was an increase in the numbers last year and there is an increase again this year. If everybody decided right now, here today, that they wanted to be on campus, can that demand be met?