James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. That was very well said. On the point on making money, I stated when responding to parliamentary questions last night that the median wage of an apprentice two years out is €935 per week and that 90% of the apprentices stick with it. Sometimes we talk about the rates when apprentices enter the system but they do well when they come out the far side of it. They generally stick with it at that point. One of the many benefits of an apprenticeship is that the learner tends to stay in the associated occupation for the long haul because he or she will have made connections, and, I suppose, friendships. They learn as they go.

I completely agree on working with other agencies. I am working with the Department of housing on student housing under section 28. We are working on the section 28 guidelines. I have published a standardised student accommodation design that puts in place parameters concerning room size, shared spaces and design, be it the design of a landing or a staircase. There are all sorts of architectural models. Rather than having every college figure out for itself the way to go, we have a series of blueprints that each is encouraged to download and work with according to its plans. This will be embedded in the section 28 housing guidelines.

We worked with the National Finance Agency on the public–private partnership element and measures in that regard. There is very much a joint effort across several Government bodies.

The special rate of maintenance grant income threshold for September has increased from €26,000 to €27,400. All other maintenance and student contribution grant thresholds have increased by 15%. This is worth repeating. Households with an income of up to €115,000 will now receive some or full supports. That is higher than it has ever been. The postgraduate fee contribution threshold and the part-time undergraduate fee contribution threshold have been increased along with that. I signed an instrument shortly after taking up office to increase the number of part-time schemes funded through the grant scheme for the first time ever. Again, that is very positive and I am keen to make progress on it. Several Deputies and Senators have raised in the past the income disregard when students are working at weekends or over holiday periods. They rightly say they should not be penalised later when it comes to grant allocation, so I want to examine the income disregard and see whether we can do something practical regarding it that will have an impact on students.