Results 181-200 of 6,887 for speaker:James Lawless
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are autonomous institutions responsible for their own academic affairs including the development of relevant curriculum, determining tuition fees and student numbers on individual courses. Tuition fees can vary depending on a variety of factors, including the type of course and the method of provision. My department does not maintain a schedule of...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2693 and 2730 together. Springboard+ 2025 was launched in May and is providing almost 8,000 places on 249 courses, including part-time micro-credentials and full-time information and communications technology (ICT) skills conversion courses. Springboard+ is open to the unemployed, employed and those returning to the workforce, subject to meeting eligibility...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: Multiple funding streams and support mechanisms are available for developing innovative renewable energy solutions. Research Ireland offers an extensive portfolio of competitive funding programmes supporting researchers across the spectrum of their research careers. Many programmes specifically support renewable energy research, including PhD and early career programmes, Challenge funding,...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Strategies (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: My Department considers it important that Springboard+ applicants using the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process are not disadvantaged due to circumstances beyond their control, including administrative delays. Springboard+ is manged by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of my Department. Staff in higher education providers, as outlined in their Springboard+ contracts,...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2696 and 2736 together. The course which the Deputy refers is delivered on a part-time basis through the relevant Higher Education Institute. The Student Part-Time Fee Regulations for Specified Undergraduate Courses 2025 provides fee support to eligible part-time students attending specified publicly funded undergraduate courses leading to a major award....
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Properties (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: My Department does not own, operate or control any used or unused properties, lands or buildings within County Kerry. All of my Department's official locations are sites owned or operated by the OPW in St. Stephen's Green (HQ), Marlborough Street (shared site) and Tullamore (shared site).
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: Fourteen apprenticeships currently have colour vision as a requirement. This means prospective apprentices must pass the Ishihara colour vision test, a standard diagnostic test for colour vision deficiency (CVD), without the use of corrective lenses. This has been the case throughout the lifetime of the standards-based apprenticeship approach, which was introduced in the 1990s. There is...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: The new Student Accommodation Strategy (2025- 2035), including new targets, is in development and will be submitted to Government in Q4. The National Student Accommodation Strategy (NSAS) 2017–2024 was developed to tackle the growing demand for student housing and ease pressure on the wider private rental market. Among its eight core targets, two key objectives highlight the...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: The Rent a Room Scheme is under the remit of the Minister for Finance and the main users of the scheme are the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and my Department in terms of housing and student supply. An individual can rent a room/rooms in their home, retain their social welfare entitlements where applicable, and earn up to €14,000 in rental income before...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: My focus is on delivering targeted and effective interventions that promote equitable access to higher education across the country. This means addressing the challenges that may prevent students from progressing into or through third-level education due to difficulties in securing or affording suitable accommodation. To effectively address the challenges in student accommodation, we are...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: Digs accommodation is not covered by the Residential Tenancy Acts, and the RTB does not have any jurisdiction or function on these types of licences. It is a private contractual matter between the parties as to the type of agreement/arrangement put in place, including rental costs. In light of this, the Department has developed a voluntary regulatory framework and sample licence which...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: I am committed to tackling the complex challenges of student accommodation through a comprehensive, strategic approach, one that increases the availability of affordable, sustainable, and regionally balanced student accommodation. Our forthcoming Student Accommodation Strategy will lead this work. It aims to build a fairer, more sustainable system, where cost and availability are no...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: Housing for All includes specific actions to develop short-term state supports to activate the construction of Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA), alongside the design of a long-term policy framework for sustained state involvement in the sector. In the short term, the focus has been on enabling stalled PBSA projects with secured planning permission to proceed, addressing...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: I will bring the new student Accommodation Strategy to Government in Q4. The new Strategy will outline a multi-pronged approach to boost supply, improve affordability, and promote sustainability. A key initiative is the Technological Sector Student Accommodation Programme (TSSAP), under which participating institutions are preparing Preliminary Business Cases to create a pipeline of...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: I would like to thank Deputy McGettigan for this question, and for allowing me the opportunity to illustrate the many avenues of engagement that my department pursues to ensure that the voice of students and apprentices are captured and included in policy-making. Overall, I believe that the student and apprentice voice is strongly represented in the policy-making processes of my department....
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: I am very much aware that cost of living challenges continue to impact students and their families, including those in the middle-income bracket who may fall just outside eligibility for traditional supports. From this month all income thresholds for the SUSI scheme will increase by 15%, and the threshold for the special rate of grant will increase from €26,200 to...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Inquiries (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the awarding authority, SUSI to determine. Under the Student Grant Scheme for approved full-time courses, income of the applicant from employment which represents holiday earnings outside of term time (Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays) can be deducted when determining the reckonable income of an...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: The higher education tuition fee payable by a student can vary depending on a variety of factors including the type of course and the student's access route. The assessment of a student’s application and the determination of the appropriate fee rate is a function of the institution attended. As the Deputy may be aware there are typically two rates of fee, an EU Rate of Fee or a...
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Ministerial Appointments (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: I have no confirmed plans to visit the East Coast of the United States before the end of 2025.
- Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Sep 2025)
James Lawless: Earlier this year, through ongoing engagement between SOLAS and the Education and Training Boards (ETBs), a funding pressure was identified for the 2025 apprenticeship budget. I directed my officials to work with SOLAS to urgently develop a plan to provide a sustainable solution to this with the least impact possible on existing apprentices. The demand for craft apprenticeships has...