Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are two ways of doing this. One relates to whether we can open up student grants to part-time students. Let us be clear that the legislation allows for that to be done. That section of the legislation has not been commenced. On foot of the SUSI work, my Department will do a piece of work in respect of defining the rules and criteria applying to part-time students and, therefore, the eligibility of part-time students for SUSI grants. There is a further piece we need to do. We have asked the OECD to do a piece of work - it is in the field now - in terms of the skills infrastructure of the country, but specifically looking at lifelong learning. As the Senator is aware, participation rates here are below the UN and OECD average when it comes to lifelong learning. The Government agreed at Cabinet last week to a proposal from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to significantly increase those rates by 2030, from approximately 40% to 60% of people participating in lifelong learning in any one calendar year. Does that mean one funds the citizen or the business or a bit of both? How do we crack that model? We have asked the OECD to specifically come up with policy proposals we can consider as a Government. It is due to complete the work at the start of 2023 but we hope to get an indication earlier than that of some of the levers we can pursue in the context of lifelong learning.