Results 421-440 of 6,887 for speaker:James Lawless

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The question is a good one as to where it goes next. Before I answer that I will talk about the steps my previous answers were stepping through. We need to bring in legislation because the National Training Fund Act does not envisage the type of uses I have just outlined. I think they are important. I met with IBEC and other employer representatives on it. There is a general shared...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: 11 o’clock I think the Deputy has got to the heart of the recent debate; he has actually nailed it. It is so important that with whatever intervention we make around fees, grants or supports, we understand what the policy objective is. Is it to broaden the net? Is it to give something to everybody? Is it to give most to those who need it most? Is it to bring into the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: For the benefit of the House, let me recap on some of the measures kicking in this year. I will investigate with regard to the cohort mentioned. It is worth saying that the special rate of maintenance threshold increased this year from €26,200 to €27,400. All grant thresholds increased by 15%, meaning the highest threshold is now €115,000. I signed a statutory...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. We have had a few variations of this discussion over the evening. That is to be expected because there were impacts in different areas in different ways. There has actually been no funding cut to the apprenticeship system in 2025. In fact, investment through the Revised Estimates has increased by €41 million by comparison with the figure for last year. Instead...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I do not have to hand a figure for LMETB per se. The overall system has received €41 million more this year than last year. What SOLAS allocates to each ETB is a matter for it. It is devolved from my Department and my control. If LMETB has a figure above or below what was expected, it is between it and SOLAS. The overall budget envelope for which responsibility has been devolved...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: My immediate focus is on fixing the problem but I hear what the Deputy is saying. The immediate response is to address the funding gap to ensure no courses are detrimentally impacted to the extent that they would not progress into next year. I have written to the chair of SOLAS to instruct that no apprenticeship classes be cancelled. Once this is resolved – I am confident it will be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. There is a simple answer, but since the Deputy probably wants some details, I will tell him a bit more. I am very passionate and excited about the opportunity we have provided through the National Training Fund. There is a surplus in the fund of almost €1.5 billion and that has been accumulated through employer contributions over several years. The issue today...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. I welcome this question. It is an opportunity to talk about the impact the SUSI grant can have. There has been continued investment and improvement with it but there is still more we can do. If we look at certain measures within the schemes and bands, there is an opportunity to go further there. Significant improvements have been made over the last number of years....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: In fairness, the Deputy was one of the first to raise this matter in the House a few weeks ago. He and Deputy Cullinane raised it in Topical Issues a couple of weeks back. As he is aware from that engagement, my Department and I were informed that, following engagements between SOLAS and ETBs on budgets, a funding pressure was identified for the 2025 apprenticeship budget. As I said a few...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I completely agree it is not acceptable. This is why I have taken strong, proactive steps to address it since it came to my attention. As well as directing SOLAS that no courses should be cancelled, I directed it to engage with ETBs to set out the programme of phase 2 classes through to the end of the year and to work out funding implications across the board to December. What does the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy has engaged in good faith throughout on this matter. I hear his queries and share them. It is important a solution be found, including a funding solution, in the coming weeks. The cut-off for classes starting in December is September. There is a lead-time for apprentices to be called up and September is the deadline for December classes. We do not have time on our side;...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I do not know if that is connected and it probably would not be wise or fair to start putting on the record things I am not 100% certain on.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: Part of me is surprised at the surprise, because I said this at parliamentary questions in February, March and April. I said it in the Irish Examiner, in The Irish Times and in other local radio interviews. I said it in multiple places, so I wonder why anyone feigns surprise. Of course, the general public do not tune into this Chamber, but there are spokespersons and people in the House,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: An Teachta Heneghan spoke about student accommodation and backyard cabins and such like. Regardless of whether I comment on my own brief, it would probably be unhelpful if I were to start commenting on the Minister for housing's brief. I hear what the Deputy is saying, and I will mention those points to the Minister. I am not across that section so it would not be appropriate for me to get...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: This came to my attention about a month ago. I addressed it in the Chamber shortly after that. That funding pressure arises from apprentices being in the system for longer than was ever anticipated because of backlogs that arose previously. They are on an incremental scale so, as they remain in the system, they become eligible for higher rates. This means there was a requirement for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: It absolutely will not be kicked down the road on my watch. I assure the Deputy of that. I intend to tackle this. That is why I am engaging with the Minister for public expenditure and directly with SOLAS. I am meeting the board on Thursday. This needs to be tackled and brought to a head. Like all other agencies funded under the Department's aegis, SOLAS makes submissions as part of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104, 105, 107, 110 and 112 together. I note that a number of Deputies have similar questions and that these have been grouped. We will probably go around the House to take supplementary questions. As I have said a number of times this evening and over recent months, I am acutely conscious of the financial challenges facing students and of the need for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: Is that your question?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: This is a really important question. We are bringing forward a successor apprenticeship action plan. We are also looking at an integrated apprenticeship model, something I will be canvassing with stakeholders at the labour economic forum shortly. I have already met the unions and others in the relevant space and that is something we will continue to engage on. We are undertaking a review...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I hear that, but neither my Department nor SOLAS is involved in the setting of apprenticeship wages. There are two types of apprentices. Under apprenticeship programmes developed before 2016, which are referred to as craft apprenticeships and are largely but not exclusively traditional construction-type apprenticeships, there are long-standing industrial relations mechanisms that determine...