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

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for those contributions. I sat here for the last three hours during the discussions with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I apologise if I must go back over some of the same material, because of the connection between third-level education and the leaving certificate. All I wanted the Minister for Education to do was answer my questions. Several of her party and Government colleagues also asked her when a decision will be made concerning the leaving certificate examinations and what will happen in that regard.

What I would like to know from the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is whether he has looked at the impact of calculated grades versus having the leaving certificate examinations on CAO points and college places next year. I ask that question because the Government's performance in respect of last year's leaving certificate examinations has left much to be desired. Approximately 12,000 cases were appealed last year and some cases are still going through the courts system in that regard. I hope we have learned lessons from that experience, but I fear we have not. We are already seeing leaving certificate students being messed around. All they want is fairness and clarity.

They are in the process of doing their leaving certificate year now. They will do the examinations when they come or they will receive calculated grades. They are, however, going through the leaving certificate process and they have missed out on months of learning. The leaving certificate results for these students cannot be a measure of how ill they have been, how ill their families have been or how much time they have had to spend in isolation. However, that is what we are ending up with now. The further we go through this process and the longer the Minister for Education keeps her head in the sand, the more difficulties we will run into. It is just not acceptable.

Reference was made in the contributions just now to the problems around mental health and stress and anxiety. I, our party president, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, and Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire heard from hundreds of students last week. They referred to this nonsense of such terms as "partners in education" and "advisory" groups. The Ministers need to stop hiding behind this blasétalk and get down to brass tacks with these students. I am really concerned about the impact that this situation is having on them.

I refer as well to the inequality associated with this situation. One of the students to whom I spoke told me that 18 classes were intended to be online, but it was only possible to have three of them because of broadband issues and teachers not turning up etc.. There is, therefore, a massive degree of inequality regarding what is being delivered to these students, who will be starting at third level or in apprenticeships in the months to come. Those students need to know now whether there are going to be written examinations, a process of predicted grades or whether it will be a combination of both of those processes. I also need to know the impact that process will have on third-level places.

Has the Minister examined the impact of the calculated grades? What increased numbers of third level places are needed to meet current demographic demand? How many places above that figure is the Minister's Department adding for the 2021-22 academic year to ease the pressure on students competing for those places? When did the Minister's Department begin engaging with colleges regarding those additional places? Can the Minister provide us with a breakdown of the places and in which disciplines they will be available?

We have seen inadequate numbers of doctors being trained in the last decade, for example. How many of these additional places, therefore, will be in medicine? We also need more nurses and therefore we need more student nurses. What is the target for the total number of places in nursing and midwifery courses for the next academic year? Regarding student nurses, does the Minister consider that the 4,500 student nurses do real work, or does he agree with the Taoiseach that to pay student nurses would somehow undermine the quality of their degrees or education? I am trying to get through these questions as quickly as possible and I would really appreciate if the Minister would do what the Minister for Education did not do, and that is answer them directly.

Regarding the €250 support for students, some students have still not received that money. How many students have received it and how many are still waiting? Are some students being told that they will have to wait until September to benefit from that support, even though they are under real financial pressure now? I refer specifically to those students who do not receive the SUSI grant in their final year. If students in their final year can get a refund, why are other students being asked for it? I have a real problem with students in their final year, who have already paid their fees and everything else and who are waiting for this €250.

I turn again to the question of accommodation. Students have lost the opportunity to work and they are being asked to pay extortionate rents.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, has all the time told me that on-campus accommodation is being sorted. At one point, I believe it was 20 October, the Minister told me that refunds would be made for five of seven of the institutions. The Minister made clear the Government's position on that. I have to hand an email dated 29 October from the Minister's office to a University of Limerick student who has not yet received a refund. The University of Limerick was supposedly one of the universities from which the Minister had received assurances. The email states that refund or cancellation policies in student accommodation should be set out in the licence agreement signed at the beginning of the academic year and that if the student is not happy, he or she should take it up with the Residential Tenancies Board. That is a long way of saying there is no refund and that one is on one's own. The email is completely at odds with the statement the Minister made in the Dáil just nine days before that. Will the Minister please clarify whether, on 20 October, he had assurances from the University of Limerick that refunds would be paid? What happened between that and 29 October? How many others have been put off from pursuing a refund from the office? Can students expect refunds for unused accommodation at public colleges?

On the Erasmus programme, the Minister has also repeatedly assured me that students from the North will not face international fees. When my office contacted colleges asking for information on such fees for any student coming from the North, at least one university told my office that as things currently stand, students from the North will face international fees. Will the Minister clarify if this is a mistake and is he aware that this information is being given out? The deadline of the CAO application is at the end of January. What immediate actions will the Minister take to ensure all universities are providing standard fees for students in the North and how is the Minister communicating this to students?

Reference was made to adult learners. I completely agree with the Minister about mature learners going back to college but what the Minister has said is completely at odds with the number of mature students who have contacted me. One student from a private college had paid €6,000 in fees. The college juggled around the timetable because of Covid but the student has a family and cannot take the place up. The college will not give him a cent back. This is wrong. What the Minister is telling me here does not correlate with what is happening on the ground. I want to give the Minister the remainder of my time so he can answer those questions specifically.

See this speech in context