Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take the points made by the Deputy. A number of initiatives to make third level education accessible to those who are under-represented have been initiated.

One of these is the third level access fund, as administered by further and higher education institutions, to support the retention of certain target groups, namely, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, mature students, students with disabilities and those from ethic minorities. It is managed on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills by the Higher Education Authority's national access office. In 2009-10, entrants from these target groups made up 37.1% of all entrants to third level institutions. The back to education initiative aims to increase the participation of young people and adults with less than upper second level education, particularly the so-called hard-to-reach, who experience strong barriers to participation in a range of part-time accredited learning opportunities leading to awards on the national framework of qualifications to facilitate their access, transfer and progression to other education and employment pathways. We also have the Springboard programme. These initiatives have been established to enable those from the lower socioeconomic categories to have access to third level or higher education. We are trying to improve the situation, while paying attention to the funding that is available and that is not easy in these difficult times. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

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