Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I could do with longer. I and Sinn Féin welcome the establishment of the new Department. It certainly has a big job of work to do, both in breadth and in depth. I am pleased to be the Sinn Féin spokesperson on these matters. I look forward to working with the Minister and his team in a collaborative and constructive way. We have a significant job of work to do.

As I discovered in recent weeks, there have been many reports and a significant amount of analysis on the vital reform and investment needed for third level education. I refer to the Cassells report, the National Skills Strategy 2025, the further education and training strategy, the gender action plan, the Partners in the Recovery: Enabling Irish Universities to Support Re-booting Ireland document published in May by the Irish Universities Association and many other papers and submissions on what needs to be done. We do not need to commission any more reports. We have enough reports to pave a road from here to County Mayo. The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 was produced in 2011. Its preface outlines exactly what needs to be done in the context of new structures to better reflect diverse learning requirements, the critical mass that is needed in research capacity to develop world-class capability in higher value niche areas, the funding of higher education in a sustainable and equitable manner and the required structure changes in the higher education system to ensure greater effectiveness. It also refers to the need for co-operation and collaboration between the various institutions. It is all there. Now we just need to make it happen. It is time for rapid action and serious investment.

I truly hope that the establishment of a dedicated Ministry will mark a step-change in how third level education is delivered. There is a real opportunity for us to envisage an all-island approach to higher education and that very much excites me because I have always believed that students from the Shankill Road or east Belfast should have the same access to educational opportunities as those from Belmullet, my area. This is a small island. We have significant expertise in the education sector, but we need to work together better to ensure that there is access right across the island and, for those who choose to study abroad, beyond. If we are to truly share this island and cherish all of its children equally, there is no better place to start than with education. That is why I am delighted to be involved in this portfolio. Nelson Mandela stated that education is the most powerful weapon one can use to change the world. I believe in education. If we do this properly, we will be able to change the island on which we live. Our aim must be to provide an educational infrastructure that will enable people of all abilities and ages, as the Minister stated, to fulfil their potential and contribute to a prosperous and progressive Ireland.

I refer to people with disabilities and, in particular, people with autism. I have long believed that we are missing out as a nation by not investing in the acute and exceptional skills of young and older people with autism. I have encountered many such people. I very much wish to work with the Minister on that issue in order that we invest in it rather than treating it as a cost. We must invest in it such that it can contribute to innovation and science and everything we need to do. That will be my overarching ethos in my role as main Opposition spokesperson on further and higher education.

There have been many decades of underfunding in this area. We spend 50% less per student now than we did in 2008. I welcome the Minister's recent announcements regarding the extra funding that will be available. The Cassells report was published four years ago, but it has been ignored until now. It identified the need for a spending increase of €600 million in third level education by 2021, which is not too far away. Successive Governments have created what has been referred to as a ticking time bomb. I agree with that assessment.

Brexit and Covid have exacerbated the situation. I am glad that the dates are being finalised with the universities. I encourage the Minister to engage further with the Higher Education Authority as well. There is a need to consult the staff and students' unions of third level institutions regarding the guidelines and complying with medical advice.

The balanced regional development of third level education has often been at the sharp end of underfunding and that must end. We need real investment and vision to address the geographic inequalities that exist. Being from Mayo, I must bring to the Minister's attention the investment that is needed by the Castlebar campus of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. The Department of Education and Skills never really wanted that institution to be established. Through the years, it has done everything possible to make it fail. I am asking the Minister to challenge the official attitude towards the campus, to work with its president and her excellent team who, despite all of the obstacles put in their way, do everything possible to create a responsive and dynamic campus.

It is not just the institutions that are close to buckling under pressure. Students and their families are also struggling. That is no wonder, given that we have the highest fees in the EU. I ask the Government to consider these issues, including the fact that families are struggling with the high cost of third level. If the current situation continues, even more inequality will come into our education system and more young people will be excluded from certain forms of education. All forms of education should be equally valued. Everyone should have the chance to follow the path that best suits them. Improving access to further and higher education needs to be a priority.

The SUSI system needs to be reformed. That should be done immediately by the Department. The thresholds are too high and the amounts are too low. People with disabilities who wish to study part time are excluded. That must be addressed, as must the problem in respect of adults living away from home being excluded because they are assessed based on their parents' income.

I am glad to see attention being given to apprenticeships because they have been undervalued in recent years. I will work with the Minister on that because I absolutely believe in apprenticeships and what we need to do there.

The Minister stated that our recovery and future economic performance lie in a well-trained and educated population. That is all very positive. I was so looking forward to coming in here today and then I saw the amendment that came in at 11 o'clock on Wednesday night which provides for giving €16,288 to a super junior Minister who is already earning €2,384 per week. It is really repugnant to hard-working people of this State. To put in perspective the €16,000 bonus, in the real world, third level students and their families will say it is as much as the annual pay of an apprentice. It is the annual pay for a full-time PhD student. It is five times the full SUSI maintenance grant for a year, which is supposed to cover accommodation, food and travel. We want to work with the Minister to improve third level education and he has put us in the impossible situation whereby we cannot vote for the setting up of this Department today because he has thrown in that amendment. People throughout the State are looking at that amendment and saying surely to God €2,384 per week is enough for somebody to live on. They see all of the cuts. When I speak to parents who are trying to send their children to third level education and to the youngsters who do not have employment because their summer jobs are gone for this year, they are really concerned about how they are going to access education, yet we put this provision in with the setting up of this Department when we have all agreed to work together to make it work. That is why Sinn Féin is forced to vote against this. We have an amendment coming through on Committee Stage and I implore the Minister even at this late stage to back our amendment, remove that provision and work together in a positive manner. Let us work together and not try to pull the wool over people's eyes by putting in the extra €2,384 a week for a Minister of State when people across this island are struggling so much at this time.

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