Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will respond to Deputy O'Connor as well, if that is okay.

I thank Deputy Dillon for his questions. I am really excited about the development of this new university for the west and the north-west. It will be transformational, not only in terms of access to education but also in creating a real powerhouse for jobs, investment and regional development. When one looks at the map of Ireland, one can see the need for that level of investment. It will change the economic profile of the region. Of course, it will make Castlebar a university town. The Deputy and I had a number of meetings with GMIT. Let me be clear, GMIT and the Castlebar campus will be major players. It will be a major campus as part of this university and I look forward to working with the Deputy to drive investment into that Castlebar facility as well.

I really enjoyed my visit to Ballinrobe Youthreach. It was a chance to meet students, to thank them, to hear from them about their Covid experiences and how challenging the year has been. It was also a chance to meet the staff who are passionate and determined. They have a couple of capital projects they would like to do to improve their facilities there. I am eager to work with the Deputy, and have discussions with the ETB, on that.

On the national access plan, we want to deliver a new one this year. We have made a lot of progress on access to higher education for people with disabilities but not enough and we need to do more.

The SUSI review will open for public consultation on Friday. We want to get an output by the summer in order that we can start planning for the Estimate campaign and, obviously, the budget, which will take place in October.

While Deputy O'Connor and I both shared the title of baby of the House, as former baby of the House, I was of the much older age of 24 when I got elected to this House, unlike the Deputy, at 22. I congratulate the Deputy on his achievement in being elected to the Dáil and advocating for the people in his constituency but also for younger people.

On the USI Bill, I take seriously the issues in it. I am talking to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, about them. While the Bill tries to provide a temporary solution to what I hope is a temporary problem, the bigger body of work for us to do together is build more student accommodation owned by college campuses. We saw the benefit of that this year where we could give refunds much more easily on the accommodation owned by campuses. We have not done enough on that.

On the Cassells report, as the Deputy will be aware from his past life, we have increased investment in higher education by almost half a billion euro since 2015. We are get the European Commission's economic evaluation back in the second quarter of this year and I look forward to trying to settle the question of a sustainable funding model.

See this speech in context