Results 341-360 of 6,386 for speaker:James Lawless

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: As acknowledged regarding PATH 4, I did commit almost €3 million in additional funding just this week towards that funding. I also intend to initiate a disability demonstration project, which will inform the development of the new policy framework for more flexible and responsive tailored supports for those students and their educational journey. A great deal of work is being done. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research and Development (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy for his question and his kind words. I look forward to working with him to deliver for Kildare North and the country as we work together in this House and elsewhere. I know he is spokesperson for a related area as well. I want to acknowledge that and support him in his work. The plan to modernise research equipment is a topic close to my heart. It is something that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research and Development (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I entirely agree with the Deputy regarding the economic headwinds he referred to in his supplementary question. Part of our competitive offering is that we have such a strong talent base, we invest in education and we invest in research and innovation. Later today, I will travel to Brussels to attend a research council with European Council colleagues and ministers in related briefs...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research and Development (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy mentioned the IUA paper published in March. I actually appointed the IUA to my working group and it is actually actively involved in it already. It is an excellent organisation and it is worthwhile to have it in the room for these discussions. The other thing I will say about the programme as I currently envisage it and through my work with the expert group is that it is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I know the Deputy's commitment to North Kildare and to our shared constituency. I agree that education is absolutely a core part of that. Education, talent, skills and investment in people is the core of our success economically as well. That is why we, as a nation, have achieved everything we have. It is because of our investment in education from the early days of the State. It is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I totally agree. I will raise some of the progress we have made in recent years and which is continuing again this year, from this September. On the cost of education, the threshold is one part of it, and an important one. The SUSI grant system is one part also. There are other factors such as student accommodation, which I am working on. I hope to publish a strategy on student...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy for his continuing interest in the Cavan project as well as others. More generally, on the Department's capital ceiling over the last period there is a dedicated capital envelope, which the Deputy referred to, that amounted to €300 million for the further education and training sector, FET. Available funding has increased again from a low base of €6...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I absolutely know it will be put to very good use. It is a fantastic and very exciting project and it is great to hear the history of that building, and indeed of the project and further education in the Cavan-Monaghan area. I thank the Deputy for the invitation to visit. I will certainly put that in my diary and will get there in due course. I would like to see it for myself. You cannot...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I agree with the Deputy and I thank him for those points on access to the system for those who maybe would not have had that given they were coming from backgrounds where traditionally education or higher education was not a feature. The further education sector has been so progressive and has led so much in making education accessible to so many more families in a community setting and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I mentioned some of the places we have provided and we intend to provide further places in these areas. There are also agreements regarding healthcare provision with Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast resulting in a further 389 places over the last two years. I visited Queen's University Belfast over the Easter break and met the president, Ian Greer. I also met some of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank Deputy Connolly for his support in my visit to Galway last week. He is a great advocate for the college and works closely with the team. I believe he is a former student. That was a very good engagement. I agree with both Deputies on the real need to examine all options and all levers at our disposal to increase the number of disability workers. These include Springboard. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy for the question. I am committed to increasing the supports available to students and to addressing the costs of education for students and their families progressively over this year and the coming years for as long as I am privileged to serve in this office. It is important to say that all proposals made regarding education expenditure, including student grants,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: There were a couple of options raised and I will try to come back to the Deputy on each of them. Career guidance and counselling is something I tend to very much support and I am keen to increase the provision of it. As we know, it is extremely difficult for students, typically at a young age, to make choices that may have implications for their entire life journey after that. There is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I have listened to what the Deputy has said and I have taken note. He might want to follow up with me on that case as well. The first thing I would say, before I and my Department get involved, is that the student should consider appealing if they have not done so already. Indeed, I would advise any student who feels they have been wrongly denied a grant, or not had their correct level of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: On the disability framework and the challenge posed, this Government wants to support people with disabilities in the fullest possible way to allow them to live the most meaningful and impactful lives as possible, and with as much support from the State as possible. This fundamental goal is writ large in the programme for Government and the entire Government is committed to delivering on it....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 11 and 33 together. As the House will be aware, the main support available to assist students with the cost of attending higher education is the student grant scheme. Under the scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: Yes.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: We are probably veering into questions for the Minister for housing rather than me. I am not aware of the seven-storey buildings the Deputy talks about. There are already 1,891 purpose-built student accommodation beds on campus in the University of Galway. The latest figures tell us the university accommodation is oversubscribed, however, as it has received more applications per bed than...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: It is not unusual for student accommodation to be used for other purposes during the summer months. Most of the higher education institutions do that themselves. It is part of the challenge of finding a solution. I want to see the maximum available beds for student accommodation based on a formula that works, first and foremost, for students. Many of the higher education institutions look...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (22 May 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. I intend for the funding to support the entire sector. The Deputy mentioned some figures. I would also be a bit concerned by the current level of our research and development spending as a percentage of GDP. We need to increase that. The private sector is spending a lot, so public sector spending needs to increase. That will be reflected in what I am hoping to...