James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I think I agree with everything he said. There are a number of points. I have spoken about the eligibility limit a lot recently. The eligibility limit in this revision increases to €115,000 at the higher end. Every threshold in the system has increased by 15%. That brings more people than ever before into the SUSI system for different grants and supports. I think the Deputy is right that there may not be full awareness of that. In fact, it is evidenced by last year, when 40,000 were estimated to be eligible at the higher end of the income threshold. Of those 40,000, only 18,000 drew down a grant towards the student contribution. Some analysis needs to be done as to why that might be so - if measures are available that are not being availed of, why that is the case. That is an important analysis. It is right across the board. Everything in the system is moving up - thresholds, grants, amounts and contributions from the State. As things stand, there is €404 million in student supports being paid out in this revision. That is on top of almost €1.7 million across the higher education piece which in some cases includes fee stipends as well.

The Deputy also spoke about the North and cross-Border co-operation. Fees are higher in the North at £5,600, almost double the highest rate of fees here. Students from the Republic attending there have the SUSI supports carried over; we pay SUSI supports for them. I take the Deputy's point about the cost-of-living interventions. As I understand, there will not be one this year but I understand his point about previous years and whatever other measures are done, that should be considered. It is a good point.

I am familiar with the Cavan college of the future project, which the Deputy raised with me previously. Cavan-Monaghan college of the future has cleared the preliminary business case. The local ETB, Cavan-Monaghan ETB, is now working on the next phase which will include the appointment of a design team. That is positive; it is moving forward. The Deputy asked me before and I am happy to visit that site with him at a future date and see it for myself. I was in Cavan with him and colleagues not so long ago in my previous role. It is worth doing. I have been getting out and about as much as I can around the country. I must put that on my list as well.

I attended the North-South Ministerial Council and met Minister Archibald, my opposite number in the Northern Executive, recently. I visited the Magee campus in Derry for the graduation of the first medical class just two weeks ago. I visited Queen's in Belfast as well. Some of the issues around cross-Border mobility are technical. For example, a student from the North taking A levels who got maximum points in their system could not achieve 600 points in our system because there was a bit of a dichotomy. That has been addressed. I have worked with Minister Archibald on it. An additional, optional course taken earlier in the term now gives a points bonus so they can get parity. A straight A student in the North and a straight A student in the South, because of the three-versus-six issue, did not quite match, so we have addressed that.

Another issue worth mentioning, which I mentioned at the North-South Ministerial Council and elsewhere, is that apart from the points anomaly, typically colleges in the South have a European or other language as a matriculation requirement. Students in the North do not necessarily take a European language as a subject for their A levels. There is that matriculation requirement and perhaps wider issues about subject choice and even European integration. That issue has been raised by the colleges. Some Northern students applying may not have a European language and therefore may not meet the matriculation requirements, regardless of points.

There are a number of research collaborations North-South. I made a number of submissions to the shared island fund for research collaborations that can be progressed, some of which are up and going and some I hope to do more on. It is key. The National Training Fund will commit money to further education and apprenticeships in a big way, including, in due course, the Cavan-Monaghan project and the Cavan ETB.