Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is good. I am asking these questions because I was finding it difficult to get the breakdown through submitting parliamentary questions. It made it more difficult to get all the information. I realise this is a one-page summary and obviously the Department is considering far more than that but, given there is a housing crisis, it would be worth looking at the backlog and the different types of apprenticeships that have a backlog. It is important that people be made aware of what the backlog is, especially while we are trying to deal with a housing crisis. Obviously, it also impacts on the lives of people who are trying to continue with their apprenticeship, finish it and get into full-time employment.

I will move on to the issue of PhD targets, including those funded by SFI. There has been a decrease in that regard and, in addition, the number of postdoctoral students funded did not hit the target there. I acknowledge that work has been done in terms of a stipend for PhD students but I know from speaking to people doing PhDs and so on that much of the difficulty in the area relates to housing. Does any conditionality apply to funding provided by the Department to universities to advance student accommodation projects? I had an interesting discussion in respect of graduate-entry medicine during oral questions last week, for example. The funding for that course of study has increased, which is welcome, but the cost for students is increasing, too. How does that work in terms of conditionality when there is funding from the Department directly to universities? What kind of conditionality can be put on such funding, especially in the context of housing and the accommodation crisis?