James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I will make an opening statement and then the Chair of the Oireachtas committee, Deputy Erin McGreehan, will speak and the Minister of State, Deputy Marian Harkin, will close the debate at the end.

I welcome that we have taken some time in the House today to address one of the most important issues that confronts a Government at any time, but particularly in changing and challenging times such as we are now in, that being, the education of its people and the generation of new knowledge, insights and ideas to propel our society into the future.

Since the formation of my Department less than five years ago, we have seen a period of intense change, technological disruption, and impact from climate change. We very much live in interesting times, but the fundamental strength of our higher education and research has allowed us to excel during that time. My Department was established to ensure that Ireland's economy and society were enabled to thrive in the 21st century and to adapt to exactly these types of shock. In that way, I see our role as both responding to the immediate needs of today but also looking forward as we chart a course towards the needs of tomorrow.

As Minister, I am guided by four clear priorities - first, to foster research and innovation as an economic enabler; second, to provide high-quality, accessible higher education; third, to expand pathways to skills, reskilling, and apprenticeships that match Ireland’s evolving workforce needs; and fourth, to promote curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge as a public good.

By ensuring that individuals are able to achieve their goals, the wider community is also served and benefits. Private enterprise generates the resources which fuel the public good. We may be entering a phase of economic uncertainty at the moment, and history has shown us that this inevitably leads to a rise in demand for higher education and training. It is therefore essential that our skills and education systems are well prepared if this comes to pass. We have many supports and policies aimed at our learners, but I am also conscious of the need to plan ahead, for the long term and to consider what the people in our colleges in 2025 will be working on in 2035 or 2045. What are the future jobs? What are the future challenges? What societal and economic problems might our students of today begin to solve in the years ahead?

That is one of the reasons I am working hard to build up our research system and take it to a higher level. This is a critical step to allow us to compete for the future. Basic research is where the building blocks of a modern economy are forged. Those developments in turn drive innovation and ultimately secure employment and high-value jobs. Ireland is a leading player in several important industries, as everyone in this House knows well. We export the products of those industries worldwide, namely, pharmaceuticals and medicines, semiconductors and medical devices. We are home to many leading multinationals, such as Microsoft, Intel, Pfizer, Google and Apple. In fact, we are home to nine of the top ten global software companies, nine of the top ten technology giants and three of the top four Internet companies. We have a challenge to retain those companies. That is critical, but we must also be able to offer them a new proposition within and from Ireland. Of course, we must always support our indigenous enterprise and innovators. We want to be able to tell them that we are the place to come, to produce, to stay, to manufacture and to market and design products, but that we are also a place where a globally competitive research system can be accessed and where the next generation of products can be created. We can say that.

Tyndall National Institute in Cork is an example of a leading semiconductor research centre. It is one which attracts researchers from all over the world, working with leading manufacturers and designers in the semiconductor industry. As semiconductors are so vital to so many parts of the economy, the work of researchers here stretches across and touches on many other areas, such as animal health, medicine, consumer products, mobile technologies or mobility solutions. The humble microchip or semiconductor is a part of almost all technology today.

The challenge is to ensure that we can do that while also providing that expertise ecosystem in other important areas. We cannot lead in every area; we must be strategic. However, we need to align with our existing strengths and the sectors where we conclude there will be opportunities for Ireland, such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, ICT, advanced manufacturing and so on.

It is also important to look at the creative industries in the arts and the humanities. We are at the beginning of the rise of machines and AI, and this will create a growing demand for creativity. The expansion of automation means that people will need to adjust, learn to embrace soft skills and bring the innovation that machines will not generate. Creative people will stand out, and the jobs that will prevail will depend on human interaction. I happened to attend the RDS annual craft showcase on Friday, and I met many skilled artisans in areas such as farriery, metalwork, leatherwork and woodwork. One of the statistics that impressed me on the day was that those employed in the creative and cultural industries match those employed in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries, yet we hear a lot about the latter - rightly so - but the former is sometimes neglected. The arts and the creative industries are just as important as any other.

The programme for Government sets out an ambitious set of commitments for research and innovation, key to which is the implementation of the national research and innovation strategy, Impact 2030. The formation of Taighde Éireann -Research Ireland in August 2024 is aiding the building of a more effective and cohesive national research and innovation ecosystem. This new agency is working hand in hand with the Higher Education Authority, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and many other State agencies and private sector organisations to ensure delivery of Ireland's research and innovation ambitions. Our university-backed research, including frontier, discovery and applied research, is being funded by the agency on a statutory basis across all disciplines and fields for the first time, creating scope for stronger engagement in transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research. The agency will work with stakeholders to engage, encourage and support our excellent university researchers, and ensure that a strong research talent pipeline continues to flow through Ireland. Under budget 2025, additional funding was announced for Taighde Éireann, with its total budget funding research now standing at €309.2 million. It is important that we continue to push forward on this agenda, and that we remain ambitious about our funding, our targets and our potential.

I am urgently concerned with rebuilding our capacity in relation to research infrastructure and equipment. The programme for Government committed to investment in a renewed programme for research in third level institutions, PRTLI. It is writ large in that programme, which we will now implement. The original PRTLI marked a quantum leap forward in the supports available to our researchers and the kinds of activities they could undertake. It was a turning point in Ireland’s development as a knowledge economy and the State’s first major strategic investment in research capacity, infrastructure and training. It empowered Ireland’s universities to define their own research priorities while ensuring that funding decisions were completely devolved to a world-class, independent assessment panel, thus avoiding any conflicts of interest. The programme drove collaboration, built capacity and embedded excellence across disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences and STEM. It changed our country, economy and society. It is time to introduce a successor programme, a new PRTLI and a new research infrastructure fund, and I am intensely engaged on that at the moment.

My Department is a young one, and I recognise that research ambition of this magnitude was perhaps not prioritised sufficiently in its early years. It is hard to do everything at one time. However, as the new Minister, I intend to refocus on research and innovation, and I am pleased to have the full backing of the Taoiseach and the Government in doing so. My ambition is to deliver a new programme that responds to today’s needs while retaining the founding spirit of the original PRTLI. This will include targeted support for equipment renewal, recognising that much of the original equipment is now becoming obsolete. However, the majority of funding will be reserved for a major competitive call based on application quality, designed to drive institutional ambition, deepen collaborative links, deliver real system-wide impacts and create space for excellence to flourish in order that we can transform Ireland’s research landscape once again. My Department's working committee is actively developing a new proposal for this. I intend to pursue a sustainable. multi-annual funding pathway through the national development plan. We also continue to make other targeted investments in research infrastructure, such as the higher education research equipment grant and the recent €17.7 million research infrastructure programme investment to supplement and provide the environment and tools that our researchers need for global competition.

Since my appointment I have been engaging directly with representatives of industry, workers, institutions and universities to hear their concerns, hopes and aspirations. I am committed, as is the Government through the Government trade forum, to engaging with industry, academies and the various bodies using all the levers at our disposal to drive that economic enablement that this sector can provide.

We are also working to make Ireland a place that can attract talent and that it is attractive to those seeking to fly from other jurisdictions or to move to a place that values science, academic integrity and creative thought. Our researchers are internationally connected. Excellent research knows no borders or arbitrary rules, and is often achieved through strong international collaboration. Last Thursday I was proud to sign the associate membership agreement with CERN on behalf of Ireland - an outcome I had long campaigned for since my time as Opposition spokesperson - along with many others in the science community. I spent 25 years campaigning. In my first 100 days, I visited Geneva twice, and have now brought this over the line. A motion will follow in this House to formalise the ratification in due course, hopefully before the summer recess. I would welcome support from all sides of the House in this important endeavour.

In the current geopolitical environment, there is growing uncertainty about academic freedom, jobs, funding for various institutions in the United States and elsewhere and what will happen to the research and those programmes. The potential to solve some of the biggest issues of our time, including in healthcare, digital technologies, the future of work and featuring modern skills, is being placed in jeopardy. Just this morning, the Cabinet approved my proposal to roll out a new global talent initiative to bring high-performing researchers to Ireland. The programme will advance commitments in the programme for Government and focus on areas of opportunity, including, but not limited to energy security, healthcare, life sciences, digital technologies, food security, semiconductors, quantum technologies and others.

The United States became a global leader in research when it welcomed scientists from overseas and became a Mecca for university-led innovation and the best and brightest minds of a generation. That tide is now turning and the flow of talent and human capital may well begin to turn another way. We saw how Europe has responded to this with a strong call by President von der Leyen, Président Macron and others and I am committed to echoing that call, supporting pan-European efforts and putting our Irish formula to work to attract top talent that is looking for a new home. During the Second World War, then Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, courted Erwin Schrödinger, who came to Dublin as a refugee and went on to be part of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, which is now a well established and successful, high-end research hub in our capital city. It continues to have an impact on Ireland through its research.

We also agreed to send innovation attachés around the world to centres of research excellence and centres of industry and innovation. Two have already been appointed to San Francisco and Boston and I propose to send further attachés around the world to partner with institutions and bring some of that research and industrial and innovation talent home. We are also advancing partnerships in Europe, such as the European Universities alliances, and through the shared island dimension, we are working North-South and east-west. I had the privilege to visit Queen's University recently during George Mitchell's visit. I met the chancellor and the team there and I will engage with counterparts in the UK and London in the next few weeks to advance those east-west and North-South relations.

Horizon Europe is a critical fund from which our researchers have drawn down almost €895 million to date and we will continue to do more. I will continue as Minister, on behalf of the State, to advocate for significant further funding to be allocated across Europe and to Ireland under the next EU Presidency and on an ongoing basis as I attend various Council meetings of research Ministers in Europe.

Last week, I signed the Quantum pact on behalf of Ireland, which brings us into the Quantum 2030 strategy. This means that AI computing and high-performance computing are now supported and propelled to be the next foundation stone of our technological journey of exploration. The implications are huge and the potential is unlimited. They include drug discovery, cancer treatment, life sciences, weather modelling, climate prediction, climate mitigation, financial forecasting and much more. It is the same type of progress as an old dial-up, crackly connection becoming the broadband signal of today. It is a quantum leap in every sense, in respect of computing power and speed of power. Calculations that would have taken up to a year can now be performed in mere moments. This is a real step-change in our powers. I am proud that Ireland has now signed up to it and we will continue to invest in this area.

We have an educated and resilient workforce. Something we have long been proud of is that the Irish population is highly skilled, highly educated and highly versatile and it is one of the reasons we have been successful economically going back to Lemass and Whitaker and policies pursued since then. We need to facilitate young and old people when they seek to access further and higher education and support them to do so. The majority of undergraduate students have their tuition fees paid in full by the State and almost half of all undergraduate students have their student contribution fee paid in full or in part by the State. Despite this, cost remains a major barrier to higher education for many and I want to target interventions at those who need them most. We must continue to help people, examine the spectrum of people in need, give to those who are missing out and examine those educated to see why some people receive supports and others are unfortunately over the income limit. We must continue to examine that and target interventions at those most in need. Last year, we made significant improvements to the student grant scheme and we recently increased the SUSI threshold to €115,000 for undergraduate students. I intend to make further changes in this year’s budget to continue to address access and support those who need it.

Interventions should be fair, targeted and progressive. The cost of education is multifaceted. Fees, transport, accommodation, materials, laboratories, having a weekend job and an income disregard for a grant application are all aspects of the cost of education. I recently held an event in Croke Park with the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin. We met a number of learners, access officers, student representative bodies and people from disadvantaged groups who were advocating and lobbying for various actions. It was a useful event. I continue to consult widely and I intend to publish an options paper during the summer, prior to the budget, to better inform the choices we make, because with limited resources we always have to make choices. How can we make a choice that is progressive and fair and means the ultimate outcome is that no student is priced out of education due to financial barriers?

I am also focusing on developing new innovative pathways into education, expanding pathways beyond the CAO process, including further education and training courses, apprenticeships, part-time courses, Springboard courses, microcredentials and microqualifications. Tertiary degree programmes enable students to begin learning in a local further education and training, FET, college and transfer seamlessly into a higher education institution after the first or second year. I was in Grangegorman last week where I met a number of students participating in tertiary degrees around the country. Some were studying in Donegal, some in the west and some in the south. I spoke to a number of students who had attended an education and training board, ETB, course in the first or second year and that gave them the confidence and wherewithal to progress to a more traditional third level institution for the their third and fourth years. They qualified with the same degrees as everyone else, but they did not go through the CAO points system to get there. They came by a different route that was more comforting, familiar and welcoming to them. Those courses have become a success very quickly. I was delighted to see them double in number this year, from 19 last year to 38 such courses offering places this year.

Apprenticeships offer a rapid route to employment while providing valuable qualifications. The earn as you learn model is a wonderful way to support people and attract them into different industries, including some where it is vital we increase the pipeline of course entrants. Last year, we launched the advanced manufacturing engineering level 8 programme, the digital marketing level 6 programme, the social work level 9 programme and the software solutions architecture level 9 programme. The apprenticeships include the traditional crafts, the hard hats and work boots on sites and the many different skilled trades that populate that sector, but they are also in such areas as digital marketing, cybersecurity, the accounting technician sector and many other areas that were not conceived as apprenticeships originally. It has gone on to spread across 77 different programmes and continues to grow into new areas. That is a welcome development.

When I talk about the cost of education and barriers to education, we have to consider student accommodation. The ability to access accommodation is a core challenge and part of the housing challenge. It is a significant priority for me as I come into the Department and it has already been one for the Department. I am look forward to delivering a new student accommodation strategy this year. I am aware that long commutes, which many students have to make, take away attention and energy from focusing on college, studies and the secondary parts of college life, which are equally important, including friendship, relationships and participation in societies. The ability to take modular courses and be able to participate in college life is not easy for people who are commuting long distances. I know that from the experience of my family and that of many others I speak to, and it is an area I intend to address.

My focus is on increasing the supply of student accommodation while supporting students with the costs. The first of our short-term activation projects will come good later this year. Maynooth University is on track to deliver 116 new beds as part of this short-term activation measure. University College Dublin, UCD, is also on track to bring 493 beds to tender stage - that will be brought to the governing board in June for consideration - and Dublin City University, DCU, has a proposal for 405 beds which will go to its governing authority for review and decision this summer also. The technological sector student accommodation programme is another factor, as is the national standardised design study, which is developing cost-effective, scalable models for future State-supported student housing. These are important measures that will bring about increased accommodation and affordable costs for all students.

I will quickly focus on skills as I will yield time to Deputy McGreehan in a moment. Research fuels innovation, but skills drive the realisation of that innovation. Skills are key to our resilience and social cohesion. They open the door to opportunities and have always been a key to Ireland's success. I am focused on ensuring we do not have any gaps in our skills mix. I will work with Government colleagues and stakeholders to expand higher education provision in key disciplines where there is a shortfall of graduates. Traditional skills such as construction are using new methods such modern methods of construction. The changes in AI and digital technologies and so forth will challenge us to produce the skills we need for our modern workforce and societal needs. The National Training Fund has a budget of €1.5 billion, which has been constrained in recent years. I recently brought the issue to the Cabinet and secured approval to legislate to unlock the National Training Fund and spend that money as it is intended, on higher education, plugging the core funding gap, further education, research development and many other areas that are essential to our prosperity and societal wellness.

I look forward to the debate and listening to other contributors. I yield to Deputy McGreehan.

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