Results 3,601-3,620 of 46,260 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I am very reluctant to give advice to business owners because I know how hard they work at the coalface. They have to make wage bills every week and month but I want businesses across the country to know that there is a suite of supports available and in place for them to help them, their business and their individual employees to upskill and reskill. We now have micro-qualifications...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Policy (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his question, which highlights the importance of trying to align graduate output with our future workforce and skills needs. It is important, when we think of previous questions, that we do not just talk about the workforce and skills needs of the private sector, although that is really important, but we also talk about the workforce and skills needs of our public...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Policy (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I am not satisfied, and I cannot be, because I have a number of reports that show really acute skills shortages in key areas of the economy. We know that we will need 50,000 more people to work in construction by 2030 and around 17,000 people to work in retrofitting. Both of those numbers are really important for our housing and climate agendas. We also know that those numbers are likely...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Policy (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Burke for what is a really topical question. We are certainly doing a lot in this space, although whether we can ever do enough is a big question. The Deputy is right that this is certainly an area that we need to prioritise. One of the things we are trying to do is to dispel the myth that education is just something people do in primary and secondary school, with a couple...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Policy (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: It is for this reason that we have changed our approach to student accommodation. In Deputy Durkan's constituency, for example, the town of Maynooth is one of the first beneficiaries of the new Government approach to student accommodation. We are investing taxpayer's money, along with university funding, to make accommodation projects viable. The student accommodation project in Maynooth...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank my party colleague, Deputy Burke, not just for raising this matter but also for meeting with me on the issue. We had a really good engagement, which I will return to in a moment. Expanding the number of places available on health and social care profession programmes is a significant priority for my Department. It is so important for the delivery of healthcare services and cancer...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: The Deputy and I, and I think everyone in this House, will agree everyone wants all scanners in all hospitals to be used to their full capacity. There is not a family in Ireland who have not been touched by cancer. If we can provide the best use of the equipment in which this State has invested and empower the incredible professionals to work with that equipment by providing them with more...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is entirely correct. There are two parts to this. We have to both train enough people and retain enough people in the health service and, obviously, issues of retention are for my colleague the Minister for Health. Nevertheless, I understand a local arrangement is in place between the HSE South/South West Hospital Group whereby the former provides support to diagnostic...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: As both Deputies Durkan and Bruton will be aware, the digital transition fund, administered by Enterprise Ireland on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, aims to increase the digitisation of all businesses in respect of products, processes, supply chains and business models. It seeks to help companies at all stages of their digital journey, from simply going online,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Visas (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I accept the Deputy's frustration. This is an area where we have genuinely tried to do quite a bit of work as a Department over a significant period to improve the access opportunities for people through education who find themselves in Ireland through a variety of migration routes. We have made some good progress in that regard and I am proud of some of the increased supports we have put...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Visas (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I am very happy to have a meeting with Deputy Gannon on the matter. I am happy to see if this can be considered and included in the new scheme. It will be included in the options paper, in terms of the cost of education measures we can take in advance of the budget. I am happy to have a meeting with Deputy Gannon and perhaps a constituent on this matter.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I am a little bit perplexed about the line of inquiry but we want to come at this from every possible angle. We know there are vacant properties in the regions and in many towns where HEIs are based. The Deputy is correct when she says it is not just for technological universities but for any universities, although I think it will be of particular benefit to our technological universities....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I do not believe these are in that space. We need to look at every way of coming at this. I know the Deputy agrees on this. We want to build purpose-built student accommodation, whether in DCU or Maynooth, but we know that it takes time to get from an idea through design, planning and construction. There could be opportunities in the meantime to look at vacant stock. I want to cast the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I have been working closely with the Minister for housing, Deputy O'Brien, on this matter. I thank him and his Department and officials for their continued support and engagement. We both agree the actions of these providers is unacceptable. While a 51-week lease may suit some third level students - perhaps those who require to be in a university...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I am not satisfied about the 51-week contract situation. I intend to reach out to the local authorities this week to ask them to carry out an urgent assessment and I intend to work with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on legislative change in the area. This highlights the need to be less reliant on the private market and to build more college-owned student accommodation. It is the reason we...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: It is the Deputy's job and duty to keep a watchful eye on this and she will do that well but by any objective measure we have seen an increase in college-owned student accommodation and in general student accommodation this college year compared to last year. We have seen more measures to help students with the cost of rent this year than last year and an increase in the student grant this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Visas (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his long-standing interest in this. The short answer is, yes, I will give consideration to this and work with the Deputy on it. To be eligible for a student grant, an applicant has to fulfil all of the criteria of the student grant scheme, including the residency and nationality criteria. In terms of residency, a student must be ordinarily resident in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Farrell for this important question. As she knows, I recently received Government approval for an overarching policy approach for student accommodation in Ireland. This policy looks at a number of ways to stimulate supply of student accommodation, including standardised design, continued promotion of the rent-a-room scheme and recognition of the Government's commitment to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: As the Deputy knows, on a number of occasions I have brought to Cabinet short-term policy approaches that we could take to get student accommodation activated, particularly where they had planning permission. More recently, I did bring that longer term policy approach. That had a number of elements, including the vacancy element. There is not much of a mystery here. For the first time in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (27 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I have been working with Minister O’Brien on this matter and I really want to thank him for his continued support. We both agree the actions of these providers is unacceptable. While it may suit some specific third level students, it is not desirable or affordable for the majority of the student population and we intend to take a number of actions to mitigate this barrier to accessing...