Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have read it. I had the honour of saying a few words at the launch of the report yesterday. It is a really good piece of work. I thank Ms Niamh O'Reilly, who heads up AONTAS, and all of the team. They are members of our Covid steering group which meets regularly, generally on a Friday. That is very important, as they are often the voice of community education. We have pretty good structures in place for talking. We also talk about universities, institutes of technology and technical universities. That is very important, but there is a whole community education sector that is often working in all of our constituencies with the most vulnerable learners and providing people with second-chance education. AONTAS does incredible work. What it found in the survey goes to the heart of why the Government wants to do two things: first, to get students back to college campuses and to have on-site learning. We recognise that for some learners, especially mature learners, for example people in their 40s with a couple of kids, a mortgage and a full-time job, packing the bags and going to college might not be an option, but school-leavers in particular want the full college experience. The report very much highlights the challenges that many students have found when they had to do college effectively in their bedroom or on the corner of the kitchen table. We want to get students back to campus.

The second thing we want to do is recognise that while students are excited about going back to campus, a lot of them will be also very anxious. In many ways, people are anxious as they try to resume parts of normal life. That is why yesterday we took the decision as a Government to allocate significant extra money, €21 million, for additional student supports. The money is being allocated to the student assistance fund, the mental health and well-being fund and a new educational disadvantage fund. It is very much grounded in the reasons that came to light in the AONTAS report.

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for being a firm believer for some time in getting students back to college campuses. I accept there will be issues of concern but once we get people vaccinated, we must look at how we can live safely. We cannot live in a country where we can go on holidays to Spain, have a pint, and go in and out of shops but where we cannot access in-person education. We have decided education is a priority, just like we have decided lots of other parts of society are a priority. Therefore, we have to make sure we get people back to campuses in a safe way, in compliance with public health advice.