Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the Department. There was a lot to take in from the Minister's opening statement. Having looked over it briefly, much of it is to be welcomed. The 7.4% increase on 2024 is certainly to be welcomed. I genuinely think this is one of the most important of all the portfolios and Departments in government. As the Minister knows, I have a real grá for higher education especially. It is to be welcomed that €4.6 billion is being allocated to the Department.

However, I wish to touch on several areas mentioned in the Minister's opening statement, focusing specifically on apprentices, a topic we have had several discussions on before, and their role throughout the country. If I were to contact my local authority in the morning and ask it to go to a local authority house to fix a leak, something to do with carpentry or an electrical fault, it would often be the case that I would be told workers were just not available to do it. This reason has been given to me by the clerk of works. Whether it is Cork City Council or Cork County Council, it has been the clerk of works who has informed me of the situation. Will there be a specific focus on apprentices for our local authorities within this newly increased budgetary allocation to enhance the number of workers they have? I ask this because we spoke yesterday evening about apprentices for the private sector and how difficult it was for employers there to take on apprentices.

Moving to student accommodation, the Minister is acutely aware of the lack of student accommodation in my county of Cork. We are being informed by the students unions of the definite figure of 18% as the total amount of purpose-built student accommodation in Cork. This is extremely difficult to comprehend because I have friends renting houses in Cork city and, as the Minister knows, sleeping in detrimental conditions. Before the general election, my party leader and I visited UCC and met representatives of the students union and the president of UCC. It was quite a stark experience to meet the representatives of the students union because I was let in on several issues I would not have been aware of. One specific case concerned a situation where a student was not able to afford the cost of a house and was travelling from Sligo to Cork every day. This meant he spent two days every week sleeping in his car. It has been a very sad indictment and failure of this Government in recent years that purpose-built student accommodation has not been made available.

This moves me to the topic of international students and the stipend offered. We have a great legacy in terms of the research and innovation endeavours this country provides. Specifically on the stipend, I have a great friend currently doing a PhD course in UCC in chemical engineering where the main focus is on air quality. He has travelled on several occasions representing the country. Most recently, he went to Austria, where, ultimately, on top of his poster is University College Cork, Ireland. That same student and that same friend has to apply every eight months for a new visa. This is the difficulty I find in this area. He has been given the opportunity to undertake a PhD course in a very good college in a very good department for four or five years but he must apply for a visa every year. I do not understand it. On top of that, there is the issue of the stipend. I welcome that his fees are paid for, but the stipend he is on is not enough to cover his day-to-day living costs.