Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I begin by congratulating the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on her election. I wish her well in that office. As she said in her few words yesterday, it is historic.

She is the first woman in the history of this Parliament to hold the office of Leas-Cheann Comhairle. It is a fabulous achievement and I wish her well.

We initiated this Bill yesterday in the Seanad, where a number of issues were raised by a range of speakers. I thank all the Deputies who contributed to the debate today. Several of the issues they raised were also raised yesterday in the other House. As my colleague, Deputy Lawless, pointed out, the inception of a new Department was an idea of the Fianna Fáil Party and the Taoiseach, who was previously Minister for Education and Science. My party adopted the proposal as policy while in opposition and I am very happy to say it was actively engaged with by Fine Gael and the Green Party as part of the talks leading to the formation of the Government. The legislation to enable the establishment of the new Department with responsibility for further and higher education, research, innovation and science is now before us. It is very important that we have a dedicated Department with responsibility in these areas, for the many reasons articulated by various speakers. It is important even for practical reasons. At budget time, for example, which will be coming up later in the year, the Minister, Deputy Harris, and I will be able to make presentations to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and seek funding and resourcing for the higher and further education sectors on a stand-alone basis. We will not be seeking those resources as representatives of a larger Department, as was the case previously, dealing with other parts of education which are also very important. We will have a dedicated focus on higher education, training, research, science and innovation.

A number of speakers referred to the need for sustainable funding for the higher education sector. That is without a doubt one of the biggest challenges that will face this Department. The Cassells report was published more than four years, has gone through the Oireachtas system and is now with the European Commission. Decisions will have to be made in regard to the future funding of third level colleges, as was rightly pointed out by several speakers, especially given the significant drop-off in the international student base that will be experienced this year.

I welcome the funding of €168 million announced earlier this week to support the third level sector. I also welcome the indication from higher and further education institutions throughout the country that they will be ready to open in September and receive first-year and other students. They are preparing for that and have confirmed to the Minister that they will be in a state of readiness for that date. The Government has stepped up to the plate and given €168 million in recognition of the contribution of the sector to the national front-line response to date, and to resource and equip institutions to make their campuses ready, make themselves digitally ready and prepare themselves for online learning. A sum of €15 million is being provided to resource students to purchase laptops, tablet devices and Internet connectivity. The student assistance fund has been doubled from €8 million to €16 million. An allocation of €3 million is being made available for student mental health, which is hugely important. In addition, €2 million is being given to the fund for students with disabilities and marginalised students, including those from the Traveller community. Research has not been forgotten, with €48 million allocated to fund ongoing research, which has been impacted by the Covid pandemic.

I want to be clear that the new Department will have a very strong focus on further education. Agencies like SOLAS are charged with driving, through the education and training boards, ETBs, the delivery of the further education and training provision which is required throughout the country. It is not all about institutes of technology and universities. Further education, training and apprenticeships will be an acute focus of this Department. We will shortly publish an apprenticeship action plan that will address the many issues around apprenticeships, including the need to broaden the range of apprenticeships on offer, address the gender imbalance in participation, resource apprenticeship programmes and make sure we do everything in that space to deal with a changing Ireland and the changing demand for skills in many sectors up and down the country. The need for action in this regard was recognised in the July stimulus.

I conclude by echoing what many speakers noted in the context of the evolution and development of this country over the years. We have such a strong foreign direct investment base, which provides gainful employment to people in every community throughout the country, not only because we are a member of the EU, we have a common law system and we have an attractive taxation policy, which has been part of a larger debate in the context of the Apple tax judgment, but also because of our research and innovation skills and capabilities and the skilled workforce which has come through our education and training framework. I thank Deputies for their contributions and commend the Bill to the House.

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