Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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105. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he continues to identify and meet the demand in the higher education sector, with particular reference to identification of the areas now most urgently requiring employees; if he is satisfied that a sufficient supply of appropriately qualified graduates continues to be available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59782/22]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I have a continued interest in the degree to which the Minister can liaise on the various opportunities that exist in industry and throughout the workplace with a view to meeting the most urgently known requirements and given that almost everybody has signs up inviting potential employees to apply.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this matter. One of the big things my Department is trying to do is not just to replicate the work that would have been done by the Department of Education previously but to be a Department that interacts between further and higher education and industry.

We do this through the regional skills forums, which we have in every region. These involve representatives of businesses, universities, colleges and the education and training boards. These forums meet, plan and map out what is required in each area. Even in a country the geographic size of Ireland, I am always surprised by the diversity of the regions in terms of the skills existing in each. My Department, therefore, is focused on aligning planning in the higher education sector with the skills needs of our country. As the Deputy knows and advocates for, these skills needs are economic and social. When we look at our public services as well, we must ensure that we are producing enough graduates. We just carried out a mapping exercise asking the sector what more can be done in medicine, nursing and veterinary medicine. I am really excited to see a pipeline of rich ideas and innovative ways of providing courses coming back as a result of that endeavour.

We have a National Skills Council and, within its remit, it advises on the prioritisation of identified skills needs and how to secure delivery of those needs. Key, high-level trends identified by the National Skills Council include automation, digitalisation, digital literacy and transversal skills. Information on these trends is then used to formulate our skills strategies and initiatives such as the National Skills Strategy 2025, Technology Skills 2022, Springboard+ and the human capital initiative, where we provide funding to provide programmes in certain areas.

In May, I launched an initiative called Funding the Future. It provides the policy basis for the vision and direction of higher education funding in a sustainable way. A key element of this policy framework is a focus on driving skills and engagement, with a particular focus on essential public services, as I referred to. Through this policy framework, my Department and the HEA will strengthen this planning provision and alignment with the skills needs of the education sector that the Deputy is rightly highlighting.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I compliment the Minister on his efforts in this area. I wish to inquire further as to the degree to which the Minister's Department continues to identify the particular weaknesses now showing up in almost every category of employment, including the teaching, medical, nursing and building professions. The technical and academic requirements are many and varied now. I am inquiring as to whether the Minister thinks there is a need for an augmentation of contact with those who have these vacancies available to bring the potential employees face to face with these parties.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I think there is and this is certainly an area we are looking at. We are working with the Department of Social Protection. For example, in the area of construction, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I have partnered with the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, to do exactly as the Deputy said in respect of identifying people who may be seeking employment and wishing to be employed and to be able to team them up where there are vacancies in the economy. I refer in particular to the area of construction, where we know we cannot build enough homes fast enough. There is real pressure in this area.

As the Deputy will know, some of these challenges arise from living in a country with full employment. I saw figures today showing that unemployment here now stood at below 4.5%. I think it is 4.4%. This is a long way from when the Deputy and I entered a Government led by former Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in 2011. This shows the journey the country has been on and the bounce back that the economy has seen from an employment perspective, despite shutdowns, pandemics, the impact of Brexit and war, and the hugely positive impact of employment in the economy in Ireland. There is also a broader issue around adversity and showing our young people a variety of ways of getting a career, including through apprenticeships and further education and training.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I bring to the attention of the Minister that many refugees coming into the country have particular skills that are in short supply in the home market. These people are ready and willing to work. Every effort should be made to ensure they have this opportunity and that they are not diverted in any way by those who seek to protest, for one reason or another, on the basis of their right to protest. The right to protest should never undermine the right of people to go about their business. I refer especially to the right to protest in such a way as to make it impossible for other people to go about their business.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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On this point, I ask the Minister to look at the situation of part-time students and the support we do not give them. At 19%, we are below the OECD average of 22% for part-time students. In the review of SUSI, we saw that 47% of postgraduates and 25% of undergraduates said they would consider going back to study if they had the financial support to do that. This is a matter we must seriously evaluate in respect of what supports we provide, the free fees initiative and the SUSI eligibility rules for part-time students. I ask the Minister to undertake this work.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will do that and, indeed, we are doing that. Professor Tom Collins is heading a working group under the Funding the Future framework specifically looking at part-time study and eligibility and access concerning student supports. I agree with the Deputy, and I hope we can find a way forward in 2023 on the issue of SUSI. I will keep in touch with the Deputy in this regard.

Turning to the question from Deputy Durkan, I am pleased our education system has worked to accommodate and facilitate people fleeing a war in the largest humanitarian crisis of our lifetimes. Approximately 15,000 people from Ukraine in Ireland are accessing further education and training, with around 500 accessing higher education. I am very proud to be a Minister of a sector that has worked to make these people feel welcome and to support them in ensuring that Putin's ambition of depriving the next generations of Ukrainians of the education and skills they will need to rebuild their country cannot be fulfilled. We will always continue to stand with Ukraine and to support that country.