Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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28. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the supports being put in place to support third level students returning to education to ensure their health and well-being during these challenging times. [22644/20]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins. My question concerns mental health and well-being. That has already been interrogated very thoroughly by Deputies Brendan Smith and Pringle. Rather than going over the same ground again, I would like to ask about the 2,700 additional places the Minister referred to and the further 800 that have been announced. The services are already overstretched and under-resourced. Is the Minister confident that the new funding he is allocating will help to deal with this problem?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her willingness not to repeat the debate we have had. I know the issue of mental health is very serious and important. Some €121,000 will be allocated to IT Sligo and €164,000 will be allocated to Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT. I will provide the Deputy with a full breakdown of the funding by institution. The additional places we have announced in recent days will come with additional resources. We will not ask the institutions to provide these services for free. I do not say that in a flippant way. We will provide them with the funds and resources necessary for those students. Roughly speaking and from memory, the 1,250 extra places will come at a full-year cost of €12 million. An incremental cost will arise from the 800 extra places I have announced this morning.

The point the Deputy has made is a very fair one. This is all a question of balance. We are asking our universities, along with everybody else, to live and work in a very different way. We are asking them to maintain social distancing and offer blended learning. When the intake of students is increased, that challenge becomes harder. The higher education institutions have come up with these figures. We have not dictated what they will provide from Dublin. Because of the extraordinary year, we have asked them to look at the full resources of their campuses to determine whether they can safely provide any more spaces. The latest figure of 800 represents what they can do. Let me be truthful with this House and with students and parents throughout the country. There will not be capacity to do more beyond the announcements made this morning and last week. That is an honest evaluation of our position.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. I have spoken to Sligo IT's representatives and the €120,000 will be most welcome and useful. That will mostly be used for mental health services but it will also go to other areas like access. I hear what the Minister is saying. The services were already overstretched. With the increased intake of students and the particularly difficult year students have had, we must seriously consider increasing resources for mental health services, perhaps in the budget or later.

I would like to raise another point which is directly related to mental health and well-being, namely, gender-based violence in third level institutions. I know this is an issue close to the Minister's heart. It certainly contributes significantly to issues of poor mental health and well-being at third level. A recent survey found that more than 6,000 students, mostly female, reported rape during their time in college. That is absolutely shocking. Some 10% of males and 28% of non-binary students have had the same experience. How is the Minister addressing this issue in the specific context of mental health?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Harkin for raising this issue. We can talk about mental health in a general sense, and it is important that we do so, but the sexual harassment and sexual violence taking place in our institutions must be called out by all of us. It is an issue for both students and staff. I intend to approach this with a degree of priority and focus that may not have been there in the past. My predecessor, Mary Mitchell O'Connor, started some really good work on this issue and I want to build on that.

I have several ministerial vacancies on governing authorities. Starting as early as today, the type of people I will appoint to those governing authorities will send a very clear message to anybody in a leadership position. My representatives, the representatives of the people of Ireland on those governing authorities, will be there to keep an eye on those issues and ask questions in that regard. We must do more. Our general frameworks are important but how they are implemented in the institutions is key. I have written to each university president to state that within six months, he or she must produce an action plan for dealing with this issue in his or her institution. The HEA will oversee its implementation. This is a big issue. It is not confined to third level, but it is a challenge in this sector and we must address it.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Everyone has been very co-operative. If we continue to be co-operative, more people will have time to ask their questions.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I will be briefer this time, because I did run over slightly. The Minister has said he will call this out. Recent media reports have shown that this is not confined to the student body, but extends to lecturers, professors etc. It is a problem throughout the sector. Calling it out is fine and I take the Minister's point about governing bodies. That will matter. However we will also need resources and programmes to help those who have been victims of gender-based violence and to prevent any incidences of such violence on third level campuses. Again, I point out to the Minister the importance of resources devoted specifically to this.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There is a reason I have asked for several actions to be taken by the group chaired by the National Women's Council of Ireland in advance of planning for the coming budgetary year. I want to do more. Funding for third level institutions also comes from research agencies such as Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council. We must make sure those agencies are aware of any allegations of wrongdoing on the courses they fund. Let us be honest - we must ensure a linkage between people getting on top of this issue and levels of funding. That is why I want the HEA to have an oversight role. I do not want this to be done in-house. I want action plans to be published, with metrics that can be measured by the HEA. Later this year we will introduce the general scheme of legislation on the governance of this whole sector to the House. I hope we can all work on that together to achieve the necessary increases in oversight. I have not lived under a rock for my whole life but the prevalence of this issue is causing me significant concern. However it is not beyond us to get on top of this and bring about the cultural change that we need. I accept that this will require resources.