Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The short answer is "Yes". We should and will do that. I agree with Deputy Ó Ríordáin in this regard. I believe he will also agree with me that staff in our third level institutions, and across the public sector, changed their work practices and how they worked overnight. They did so in an emergency scenario. They showed great flexibility and I really respect and thank them for that. However, as we move from an emergency phase of the pandemic - and we all hope we are doing so - it is important that we have discussions about how to make these changes more sustainable and what is required to embed them. People did things on a one-off basis and went above and beyond but a precedent was not set. We have to sit down and engage with stakeholders if we want to embed these changes into people's work practices. We absolutely will do that. I have no doubt that there are people who have accessed third level education as a result of these changes who may not otherwise have been able to. I remember talking to Longford Women's Link and women in that group were accessing degree programmes in Maynooth University from rural Longford. That shows how we can bring education to people who may not otherwise be able to access it. While the Deputy is right that I cannot necessarily direct institutions, as part of the discussions on future funding, we have a list of reforms that we want to see from the sector. This is certainly one such area.

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