Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here. When I first came here, I did not really understand about the technological universities. I had to learn as I went along, like many others around the table. The level of change in the past few years has been mind-blowing. Students have the opportunity now to be educated at home if they can and want to opt into that. It is absolutely brilliant.

I was hoping the Minister could give us some information on the academic precarity motion Senator Higgins brought to the Seanad eight months ago. The Minister spoke about Killybegs and the apprenticeships, but, unfortunately, there are no job opportunities in rural Ireland in the likes of Donegal. Where Billie is in childcare, there is a vacant place and the manager has to do that job herself because, unfortunately, people may have done the courses or whatever, but are not interested in the job because of the lack of payment. It just does not meet the economic demands people are living with today due to cost-of-living increases.

Does the Minister have the figures for how many colleges are universally diverse, in that they are wheelchair accessible and serve people with autism and other additional needs? Ballyfermot College is close to my heart. It is located in a very disadvantaged area. There are Crumlin, Drimnagh, Clondalkin and all the surrounding places. The staff there are looking to get a level 6 nursing course in the college. We as a committee got to visit the college last year and it has the facilities, but it is about the financial support as well for that to happen. Does the Minister see it being possible for Ballyfermot College to have the nursing level 6 course? I say again that if you cannot see it, you cannot be it. I went to Trinity College for a year. I felt I was being stopped every single day I went in there, so I went to Ballyfermot College to care for people with special and additional needs and to do the pre-nursing course. Sometimes with people from very disadvantaged communities the mental block can even be in your own head, unless you have a college like Ballyfermot that is giving you the support. It is one of the best colleges I have ever been to when it comes to special and additional needs, interpreters and that extra support. Is that possible? Is that something the Department would look into for the college?

The Minister may say that this is a matter for the Minister of State with responsibility for special education, but I do not think so. Mainstreaming children with special and additional needs has to be done at university level as well. It was very disheartening last week to see that children with special and additional needs will still be in special schools when a lot of them do not need to be there; they just need support in mainstream schools. That option should be available.

College Connect is working to a certain extent. This is something we have to look further into in order to really engage with people from the Traveller community and other minority groups. We have a lot of access to third level access nowadays, fortunately, and in the past few years people have got more access online as well. Unfortunately, some people still would not have the price of a laptop or the money for extra support. That is something we have to look at and work on with NGOs that work with people from minority groups that are disadvantaged. There is only so much higher education the Department can facilitate and then it is about employment opportunities afterwards. Even in the past three years I have seen more members of the Traveller community going to university, but when we talk about apprenticeships, could we look at making them culturally appropriate for the Traveller community? We are now talking about recycling and the importance of recycling, but the Traveller community have always recycled. For many Traveller men, it is scrap, so it is about being able to create those opportunities for, say, Traveller men. What would that look like going forward? It is positive to have the Minister here and we are moving in a positive direction in higher education, but again an awful lot more can and should be done when it comes to people from very disadvantaged communities and especially members of the Traveller community. Due to the apprenticeships and the Department as well there are members of the Traveller community working in Leinster House and apprenticeship courses, but there are not enough people in the courses. The Minister has just over three minutes to reply. I am sorry.