Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do indeed. I will ask the institutions to show that flexibility. I often think of the soon-to-be second year college students who physically left a school building in March 2020. In many cases, they have not been physically inside an educational setting since then. It would be unusual not to need a period to re-adapt. Anyone would need that after such a level of disruption. I have spoken to the presidents of many universities, institutes of technology and other educational institutions and I think they get this. I will ask that they would show flexibility. The first priority must be the well-being of students, getting them safely back, looking out for them, looking after them and showing flexibility. We should remember that second years need to be inducted into college in just the same way as first-year students. The extra funding must be used in a way that works. It will be different from institution to institution. Crucially, we must listen to the voice of students on how to use the funding. Let us not tell the students how best to use the mental health and well-being funding, but talk to students and individual student unions and come up with plans. We all need to show that little bit of flexibility because there is a huge amount of anxiety out there as people try to resume activities that were normal but have not happened in quite a while.