John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire nua. Guím gach rath air ina ról nua atá aige. I compliment him on the start he has made. We can see that he is ambitious for the sector already. The initial investments he has made seem to be aimed at those areas of need within the sector. That shows that he has a level of insight suited to the role. I wish him luck.

We all share the four priorities that the Minister outlined and I am glad that he said there is no higher hierarchy among them. Regarding the last priority that was mentioned under the heading, developing curiosity and promoting the pursuit of knowledge, if we can motivate students to that point the rest will easily follow. As I previously mentioned when we had a debate on statements on third level education in the Dáil, the education system should be all about people enhancing themselves to enhance the community. It should be value-led. That is crucial. If we can motivate young people for that pursuit of knowledge and curiosity, we will go a long way towards meeting the other objectives that the Minister outlined.

I have some direct questions about the content of the Minister's contribution. He noted the commercialisation of research and increased resources, including a package of €63.8 billion to accelerate commercialisation of research across Ireland. I recognise the need for a connection between our third level institutions and industry. Can we get more details on how that package will be spent and the general parameters that the Minister has set around that whole area? There is some concern, which I also expressed at our first committee meeting. Would those who founded our third level institutions in the mid-19th century recognise them today as purely educational institutions or is there a corporatism around them that they might not recognise? I would like more details on the package to accelerate commercialisation.

I welcome the expansion of the places for healthcare that the Minister has initiated. More than 5,000 work permits were approved last year by the State for people to come here and practise as nurses. That clearly highlights that we have a shortfall in the training of nurses within our institutions. That is just one area. The Minister previously discussed with me the increase in the number of occupational therapists and physiotherapy places in Galway this year. That is welcome because all of us see the children's disability network teams, CDNTs, throughout the country having vacancies and shortages of practitioners. We need to accelerate the development of further practitioners in those areas at the earliest opportunity.

I welcome the Minister's emphasis on trying to take away barriers to the participation of students and the expansion in the number of students who can participate at third level. On the funding for PATH 4, I attended the European Access Network annual conference earlier this week in Galway. There were some concerns that the funding for PATH 4 ends in 2026. We are not certain of the funding beyond that point. It would be welcome to get clarity on that. It is a crucial area. We need to broaden and widen the third level education option to as many students as possible and try to overcome the disadvantages that some have in accessing that.

I welcome the review of the national strategy on apprenticeships and that we are going to start a new plan. There is one aspect of it that may not have been as successful as we would have liked. That is the whole area of our public sector encouraging apprenticeships. When I was a member of the local authority in Galway, I tried to pursue that the local authority would undertake the action that was outlined in the initial strategy. I am not sure that it did. Overall, it seems to have been successful with the number of apprenticeships going up. Our State bodies, however, should be more proactive in recruiting apprentices, whether that is our local authorities, our health sector or other such public bodies. I would like a comment on the review of the existing strategy.