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

I am really conscious that as we discuss this here today, there are families who are absolutely crippled with the cost of trying to access third level education and there are other children in households who are doing without just so those students can cling on to the third level education that they are in or going to start in September. We really need to be mindful of that in how we approach this. It is absolutely not just fees. There are really hard-working people who are excluded from third level education and we need to be very careful of that. We need to look at the EU and lessons from other member states to see how they can afford to provide third level education. Rather than treating it as being populist to disagree with fees or loans, we need a full and thorough honest conversation around the whole thing.

I wish to ask about the current situation around the Ukrainian community who have been welcomed to the State, and rightly so, and what we need to do around third level education. In particular, what do we need to do around upskilling. There are a huge number of jobs available. The labour market has never been as good in that sense. What do we need to do to help the Ukrainian community to access the labour market? Is there a role for the regional skills forum, in particular?

The digital support to SMEs and others during Covid for getting business online and so on was rightly very welcome. I am a bit concerned that some businesses are online but they are not being given the supports they need to progress that and adapt it and for it to evolve to access markets as they need to. I am extremely conscious that businesses are really struggling in trying to address energy costs and other high costs that are escalating with inflation. I want to ask about the opportunities of the TUs, particularly in the area of research funding.

We know the small amount allocated heretofore and the small portion allocated to those entities that now make up TUs, particularly along the western seaboard. What resources are required for the TUs to catch up and access funding streams and research opportunities to level the playing field for access to research and development opportunities?