Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his recent trip to County Kerry, particularly Tralee where he was warmly welcomed, and rightly so. He certainly is committed to his current post.

I want to talk about the cost of education and the parents and young people who are trying to afford going to university. A young person who works during the summer is punished. That is totally wrong. It does not make sense. We want to encourage young people to work, whether at weekends, during summer holidays or at Christmas. The money they earn should be totally disregarded. We want them to have a work ethic so that they will go out to work. When they do, we do not want to penalise them but to reward them. That money will be petrol in the tank for the winter during their college time. We want to make sure that it does not affect their parents' ability to qualify for SUSI grants or any other type of assistance. We want to encourage work. I plead with the Minister to take that into account.

I congratulate everyone involved in the Institute of Technology in Tralee which merged with Cork IT in January 2021 to become Munster Technological University, Ireland's second technological university. That is great. I thank the presidents past and present, all the lecturers and everyone who works to make this institution the most vibrant educational tool we have in County Kerry. I am very proud of the fact that we have it.

I now turn to problems. There is the accommodation crisis for students across the country. I know of nightmare scenarios where students were carpooling to from Kerry to Cork or Limerick, for example. I remind the Minister of the dangerous aspect of that. Think of the law of averages if a group of students is travelling early in the morning or late in the evening in a car. They should not have to do that because of a lack of available or affordable accommodation. We surely should be able to ensure that students have proper, safe places to stay at a price they can afford.

Then there are the troubles our young students have with mental health. The whole uncertainty around the closing and opening of colleges and schools, online classes on Zoom and so on brought certain pressures to bear on young people that were not there before. I would like assistance to be available to help them. Remember, young people are the politicians and teachers of the future. They are the workers who will come after us. We want them to be minded and protected in every way they can. If a youngster is suffering from distress or needs to talk to somebody, I want to be sure that talk or assistance is available. There is nothing wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with a student coming out and saying he or she is having a bit of trouble and needs to talk to somebody about it. I thank the people who are involved in helping and supporting young people with that and I encourage them to keep up their excellent work.

I want to speak about the very important matter of trades. I adore the fact that people are getting an academic education. However, as the Minister will have seen on the day he visited Tralee, we need to acknowledge the importance of people becoming mechanics, blocklayers and plasterers. Good God, if you had a child today and you were fortunate enough for that child to grow up to become a plumber or electrician, it would never see a hungry day or a poor day. We want to encourage that so we have roofers and people who can build and use the two hands God gave them.

Long ago, there were courses and organisations such as AnCO where people could go away and learn the trade of publican and other trades in the hospitality sector, such as chefs, and all that goes with that. We should encourage that. The reason we have such a labour shortage in the country is that we are not encouraging enough of that. We should remember there is absolutely nothing in the world wrong with using the two hands that God gave us, maybe even more than using our minds, and of course to use one, we must use the other.

In the seconds remaining, I have to register the number of young people who have contacted me to say they are not happy that they were not afforded the hybrid model for the leaving certificate.

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