Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin for his questions and kind comments about the work of the Department. I thank all of the officials who are trying to build a new Department. While it is not quite being built from scratch, it is taking many functions from the Department of Education and the previous Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, and loading them together at a time when everyone is working from home and so on. The officials have risen to the challenge and I am very lucky, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, to have such a dedicated team of officials who are passionate about this work.

I am also delighted that the new Department is causing Members of the Oireachtas to talk about the sector. We have a dedicated parliamentary questions session and committee discussions. We are getting a chance to discuss, explore and come up with ideas and solutions on issues that ran the risk of getting lost. I say that meaning no disrespect to other Departments. The proof will be in the eating and we need to get a lot of things delivered over the next while. I hope here will be a cross-party consensus that there is real value in this Department because, without getting into the international tax debate, our future economic and social well-being will become more and more reliant on what we call "human capital", or people, and investing in people. That is what this Department is about.

I confirm to the Deputy that I have now received the final report from Mr. Peter Cassells. I use the word "final" intentionally because I do not believe we need another report or a cross-party committee to commission another report. We do not need to build a shelf to put the report on. We now need to come up with solutions. I rule out student loans here and now. I have no interest in them, do not agree with them and do not believe in them. They do not work. They might work on paper but they do not work in reality. We will not be introducing student loans. We will come up with a way of moving forward on that. I hope to bring proposals to Cabinet later this year and, as part of the Estimates process, to be able to make some progress.

I would love to have a proper conversation about role models in the professions and how we can help through reform of the CAO, new pathways to work and the work being done on apprenticeships by the Minister of State, Deputy Collins. I would love to discuss that further with the committee.

With regard to Covid variants, the Deputy is right that we are in uncertain times. We know, however, that the vaccines work. My message to everybody is that we will see case numbers rising. If we look at what has happened in Scotland, the Netherlands and Portugal - just three examples - we saw numbers rise, peak and then begin to come back down. Vaccines work. Younger people can now get vaccinated and young people aged between 18 and 22 are being vaccinated today. Those aged 16 and 17 years will be vaccinated shortly. Before the new college year resumes, I believe that every young person will have had an opportunity to be vaccinated. While college attendance or access to education is not contingent on vaccination, we will see the benefit of the vaccine programme in the weeks and months ahead. Our reopening plans have been endorsed by the Chief Medical Officer. This is not the Department doing a solo run. It is very much a plan endorsed by public health advice.

On the leaving certificate, I am aware of the point the Deputy is making and I am sure he would never wish to draw me into another Minister's remit. The leaving certificate, however, is a matter for the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and her Department. I will say that it is an incredible testament to the Minister and, more important, to all of the stakeholders, education providers, teachers, the State Examinations Commission, school principals, students, special needs assistants, SNAs, and everybody else involved that we managed to have leaving certificate examinations this year and that they went off pretty well. In the middle of a global pandemic Ireland held leaving certificate exams and provided students with the choice that they wanted around calculated grades. We learned a lot from listening to second level students this year as opposed to just telling them what was best for them. They showed themselves to be constructive and pragmatic and they helped to design the system. It was not the most straightforward system. We were one of the few countries in the world to take a dual approach. I commend the students on that.

From my Department's perspective, rapid clarity on what next year will look like is always useful. The Minister is well aware of that and will, I presume, want to move in that direction also.