Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be very careful and restrained in what I say, other than to agree with the sentiments expressed by Senator Byrne. I refer to the importance of the vaccination programme and science research. We have seen the great value derived from science and research in, literally, saving lives and allowing our country and world to reopen. As a former Minister for Health, I witnessed the incredible endeavours of those working 24-7 to try to save lives. It is an awful kick in the gut, to put it mildly, when we see some of this kind of carry-on. I had better bite my tongue, though, beyond saying that much. However, I do not disagree with what was said.

Turning to funding, we are going to have an exciting discussion about properly funding higher education. The Taoiseach is up for it and he is prioritising this undertaking. He wants to get this done and it is one of the reasons he set up this Department and his bona fides in this area are beyond reproach. One aspect we must examine, though, is the staff-student ratio at third level. We talk about it all the time at primary and secondary levels, but we have lost ground, to put it mildly, on the staff-student ratio at third level. As part of a sustainable funding model, one of the things I wish to rectify is how we can get to a good, decent staff-student ratio at this level. I put that down as a marker for a longer conversation that we will undoubtedly have about such a sustainable funding model. It must not be just a case of us asking how much more money we are going to put into the system. It is an important aspect, but also important, however, is what the country is going to get in respect of outputs and outcomes. A proper and sustainable staff-student ratio is one metric we should examine.

The point about microcredentials is important. Again, when we have the discussion about funding, it will go hand in hand with reform. There will be three pots of funding. One will be for what is required as core funding, accepting that there are deficits in that regard which must be addressed. Then, there will be the funding to do new things and to allow us to have a flexible and agile system rather than allocating new money for old rope. In that context, we must explore how we can ensure a 40-year old with three kids, a mortgage and a full-time job - which is the example I refer to frequently - who needs to access a module of higher education can do so in a flexible and agile way. The third pot of money is concerned with how to support students, the provision of supports for those students and enabling access to and inclusion in third level education. Those are going to be the three distinct areas which must be brought together and then knitted together.

Turning to skills, what was said is correct. We will not have time to get into this aspect in detail now, but we are undertaking a massive body of work in my Department on skills infrastructure. We have a lot of it in Ireland. There is the National Skills Council, the labour market unit in SOLAS and the regional skills forums. However, now that we have a dedicated Department with responsibility for skills, if I may call it that, the question is how we can get the most out of it for the country. In the area of research, for example, we have published the general scheme of the proposed Bill relating to the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and that is important. However, and I flag this aspect for the first time at this committee, because I have not done so elsewhere, I also intend to introduce legislation and a research Bill in 2022. While some things will be dealt with in the governance Bill for HEA, and they should be, I think the breadth of our ambition regarding what we want to do in the research sphere and the structures that we want to put in place to achieve such an outcome will merit a stand-alone research Act. I look forward to working with the committee on that proposed legislation and I thought I should mention that point here.