Results 321-340 of 6,887 for speaker:James Lawless

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 3420 and 3422 together. My officials are working closely with colleagues in the Department of Health to examine the expansion of training places in areas of acute skills shortage, including oral healthcare and dentistry. In recognition of Ireland’s growing population my Department is actively working to support the Department of Health's...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: In considering the matters raised it is important to note that Universities, as autonomous institutions, are responsible for their own academic affairs including the curriculum and student numbers on individual courses. The costs incurred by a University in student places on a particular course, or range of courses, can vary depending on a variety factors including the type of course and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: In March 2022, over €37million was awarded from the Shared Island Fund to support this programme, based on three strands, viz: (a) bilateral researcher-researcher projects (b) emerging hubs of excellence (c) Partnerships of Scale. Some 62 projects were awarded funding across three programme strands, ranging in value from €200,000 over two years to €4 million over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: Budget 2025 provided €8m for a pathfinder project aimed at incentivising SMEs to participate in lifelong learning. Lifelong learning was one of the four priority areas examined by the 2023 OECD Review of Ireland’s National Skills Strategy, with the Review noting that SMEs face particular challenges in providing or supporting lifelong learning. The aim of the SME...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: One of the criteria in the student grant scheme relates to 'progression'. This means that a student must be moving from year to year within a course, having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another, where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course. The objective of this policy is to help as many students as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: International Students (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The main eligibility criteria for the Government of Ireland International Scholarship programme include: 1) Having a domiciliary of origin outside the EU/EEA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 2) Having received an offer of a place as an international, fee-paying student in a full-time, in-person course at an eligible Irish higher education institution for either: a. a taught...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are autonomous institutions responsible for their own academic affairs including the curriculum and student numbers on individual courses. The costs incurred by a HEI in increasing student places on a particular course or establishing an additional course can vary depending on a variety factors including the type of course and the individual circumstances...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I am acutely conscious of the financial challenges facing students and the need for the progressive implementation of measures to address costs as a barrier to education. I am committed to easing this burden for students and their families in a financially sustainable way. Almost all full-time undergraduate students have their tuition fees paid in full by the State through the Free Fees...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (29 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: Through ongoing engagement between SOLAS and the Education and Training Boards (ETBs), a funding pressure was identified for the 2025 apprenticeship budget. Demand for craft apprenticeships has grown significantly, with annual registrations increasing by 35% since 2019 - from 5,271 in 2019 to 7,113 in 2024. The number of craft apprentices reached 25,000 at the end of 2024, up from 16,000...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 580 and 597 together. As Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science I launched the latest round of a call for applications under the Technological University Development Fund. This was noted by Government 30/05/2025. This latest call for applications for up to €65.8 million under the Technological University...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The provision of Higher Education funding on an annual basis, including student supports and the recurrent grant or core funding allocation, is part of overall expenditure management and budgetary policy for Government. I am approaching Budget 2026 by considering measures that can ease the financial burden on students and their families by reducing the cost of education in a way that is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: SOLAS continue to support Mayo Sligo and Leitrim ETB (MSLETB) to progress its Preliminary Business Case proposal for Castlebar under the FET College of the Future Major Projects fund. The proposal is one of twelve projects that are currently being progressed under this fund. MSLETB’s proposal involves providing a state of the art, purpose-built college building on a new site, which...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: Adult education and adult education tutors play an important role in empowering individuals, broadening access to learning, and in strengthening communities. After many years of work through the established IR mechanisms by my Department with the Department of Education and Youth, the Department of Public Expenditure, Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI), and SIPTU and TUI, the new...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The objective of the statutory based student grant scheme is to provide additional assistance where parental income is below a certain threshold or, in the case of independent mature students, where the level of income of the student and his or her spouse warrants additional assistance by way of a grant. For student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The provision of Higher Education funding on an annual basis, including the recurrent grant or core funding allocation, is part of overall expenditure management and budgetary policy for Government. The published Revised Estimates Volume for Public Services 2025 provides for a recurrent grant allocation of €1,666,661,000 in 2025. This is broken down as €1,468,309,000 under...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: My Department is committed to driving a skills ecosystem and skills agenda in Ireland which is agile and responsive to priority skills needs, to ensure Ireland has a skilled and productive workforce across businesses of all sizes and to encourage enterprises to avail of opportunities for their employees. I am focused on working with the skills ecosystem, to ensure an adequate pipeline of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Procurement Contracts (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The information sought by the Deputy in regard to the number of procurement competitions that did not result in contract award run by the DFHERIS is not routinely collated by my department. However, my department adheres to all OGP guidance which outlines the various stages of the procurement process from specification, through to selection and award stages. Furthermore, my department has...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Private Partnerships (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: Please see below a list of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects under my Department’s remit which have been delivered since 2010. Name Contract Value (as at Dec 2024) € Year of Commencement End Date Subject to cost overruns / renegotiations / early terminations Grangegorman Quads ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: By way of background for the Deputy, through Specialist Training Provision (STP), Education and Training Boards (ETBs) contract providers to offer training to learners who require more intensive support than is available in mainstream FET settings. In 2024, circa €41 million was allocated to support 2,763 learners. Of this, €17 million provided training allowances to learners. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts (17 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: My Department has not procured any services from this company. The information in respect of aegis bodies, within the scope of the Deputy’s question, is not held by my Department. Contact details for these bodies are set out in the attached document, should the Deputy wish as to contact the aegis bodies directly with their query. Please note that City of Dublin Education and...