Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct that there has been an effort by some Deputies - not him or me - to pit one generation against another with regard to Covid. The reality is that it has had a serious impact on all generations, including young people. I was very moved by the "Prime Time" television programme broadcast last night which showed all the milestones young people have missed as a result of the pandemic.

It is important, right and proper that the Government invests in helping students to make the transition from school into further or higher education. There are four areas in which we have tried to invest. One is the SUSI grant process and ensuring the applications are being processed and turned around. We have received 2,500 more applications so far. We are also making sure the system is flexible enough to understand that an applicant's family's income may have changed suddenly this year as a result of Covid and that that needs to be factored into the consideration. I have been meeting the staff responsible for SUSI regularly on that issue. The second area of investment relates to the issue of realising one cannot tell a student to pursue online learning without ensuring that he or she has access to a laptop. Families that one might presume could afford to put together several hundred euro in order to secure a laptop may be having difficulty doing so. We have invested €15 million in buying technological devices, including laptops, for students. They are being divvied out among all the institutions and will all be available before the new academic year starts.

We have doubled the student assistance fund. Its funding is usually approximately €8 million per year but this year it will be approximately €16 million. It is a fund which people can go to their local access office to draw down if they fall on hard times, have difficulty with a bill or lose a part-time job. There is €16 million in that fund.

As I outlined to Deputy Pringle, we have allocated an additional €5 million to student mental health, €2 million of which was allocated on budget day for extra spending this year, with the remaining €3 million allocated more as part of the July announcement. That has been divided among the individual institutions through the HEA. They are being asked to focus on hiring more counsellors and psychologists to ensure there are good supports for students. We are continuing to keep a watching brief on this issue. We will keep working with students' unions, listening to staff and putting in more supports as the need arises.

See this speech in context