James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. I know he is interested in the shared island initiative, the Border regions, and Cavan in particular. The Deputy is a member of the Good Friday committee so will know the shared island fund now has a €1 billion budget going forward. There is an intention to develop an all-island apprenticeship strategy as part of that. I visited Queen's University and further education centres in Belfast not so long ago. I agree completely with the Deputy that there is a huge opportunity for cross-Border collaboration. Some of the shared island funding could be smartly targeted in some of those initiatives. This may speak more to the higher education space. There are also mobility supports for students to go both directions across the border. I recall when I was in college many Northern Irish students attended Dublin colleges. That seems to have fallen away a little bit in recent years. One of the reasons for that is the Northern education system uses A-levels as opposed to the leaving certificate. Straight As in the A-levels does not give 600 points: it gives 560 or 570. A-level students could not get into the high-points, very competitive courses such as veterinary studies, medicine, law. Traditionally, that was where there had been a lot of cross-Border mobility. That has been tackled by the introduction of an additional, optional subject for examinations that can be used in conjunction with the A-levels to get to what would effectively be considered full points in the leaving certificate. That is being implemented from this year and will allow that mobility to start again. Regarding the other direction, a number of students from south of the border attend both Queens University and Ulster University. I met some of the Irish students, particularly on the medicine and nursing courses, who are doing well. The education provided by the Northern institutions is paid for through the HEA and my Department. There is an issue with a cap in Northern Ireland, which the Deputy might be familiar with. Northern Irish students reach a point where they are capped out due to the UK budgetary system, which obviously is outside of our control. Everybody will agree that is not a particularly desirable situation but that is what they have there.

I visited Dundalk with the Cathaoirleach recently. As it is close to the Border there is a lot of cross-Border mobility, with students going both ways. There is an opportunity for further expansion of that, including the further education fees that Deputy Smith talked about. That is something we will continue to work on. The shared island proposals continue to evolve. If there are particular projects that the Deputy or others have in mind, I am happy to hear them and we will see if we can progress some of them.