Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)

First, comhghairdeachas leis an Aire ar a ról nua. I congratulate the Minister, as a fellow Gorey man, on his elevation to this high office. It is great to see. I wish him well in his endeavours.

There are a number of areas I could focus on, but time will not permit - especially my fears around student accommodation crisis, which may become a disaster. That is a fear I have, and it is feedback I am getting. I would also like to see an all-Ireland dimension to our work, which I note the Minister is committed to as well.

I have a topical question to do with my own area, namely, the South East Technological University, SETU. The Minister addressed it and we spoke about it Riverchapel last week. As he knows, the CPO challenge for the site was rejected, which cleared the way for the purchase and plans around the SETU, which will serve the entire area. There has been much enthusiasm in the past decade. It is several years since Deputy Johnny Mythen, Councillor Tom Forde and I met the heads of the university in Carlow. Last week, a bit of a cloud came over the south east in the sense that the Minister may have - maybe not intentionally - dampened the optimism on the progression. It has been in the pipeline for over a decade. It might not have been his intention. I appreciate that he may have wanted to be cautious in his approach in a new brief. However, people perceived that the Government has rowed back in terms of assurances around funding. The Tánaiste, Simon Harris, promised funding for this some years ago. The Minister said himself that he does not promise money but that he will make it a priority, so I welcome that. Once this proposal is completed, on the table, he has it in front of him and it ticks all the boxes, can the Minister give us an assurance that he will not be found wanting in terms of provision of funding for the development of South East Technological University? That is the first question.

Second, on apprenticeships, I welcome the Minister’s commitment and plans around this area. For many years, this has been the poor relation. People have looked down their nose on apprenticeships in Ireland, looking up to college and university degrees. We need all of these things, but Ireland at the moment is crying out for bus drivers, retrofitters and plumbers. We have been very narrow in our focus on apprenticeships in the past. I think we have 77 at present. I remember going to an EU event many years ago and a person from Germany pointed out that - back then - they had more than 300 apprenticeships. Currently, we have too few young people getting apprenticeships, and those who do are trapped on apprenticeship wages for months and maybe years because the State has not provided adequate off-the-job training capacity. As well as increasing the number of apprenticeships, can we broaden the scope of these to bring them more in line with Europe so that we have more apprenticeships in the public service and State agencies? Can we also address the pay issue? I refer to incentives for employers in that regard.

Much of the vision some of our founder fathers would have had on provision of Irish-language education has slipped in recent years. As part of his five-year framework, can the Minister make these two things a priority? One is the promotion of our national language, Irish, throughout the third-level campuses in Ireland, North and South. Would the Minister look at the expansion of the provision of third-level education trí Ghaeilge? Many people want to pursue that option and it is extremely limited at the moment.

Those are my three questions.