Results 9,661-9,680 of 46,456 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research Funding (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this question and for consistently working with me and keeping my Department under good pressure to make sure we do all we can to keep those strong higher education, research and science links that exist between North and South. This is another example of those links. The Government and I strongly support Northern Ireland’s participation in Horizon...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research Funding (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: The Government gave a clear commitment, as did the previous Government, to ensuring that Northern Ireland is never left behind and we are going to honour that commitment in every way we can. I am not in any way disputing the valid points the Deputy made, but I welcome the fact that under the current agreement it is envisaged that the UK, and therefore Northern Ireland, will have access to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research Funding (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: As part of our development of a new national research and innovation strategy, which I expect to have concluded by the end of the year, we will set a new national target for Horizon Europe. I share the Deputy's wish and desire for us to do more, do even better, draw down as much funding as possible and collaborate as much as we possibly can. Our top countries for collaborations are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: Of course the Deputy can put that to me but he will not be surprised when I utterly reject it. I have already given my view on Mr. Keegan's comments and I will not take up time on that. We have taken a number of measures, including in recent days, to assist with student welfare, student mental health and student incomes. I refer to the pandemic unemployment payment and the significant...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for all her work, interest and engagement with me on this issue. I am pleased the allocation we secured yesterday in the budget for the national access plan specifically references students with intellectual disabilities. We have made a great deal of progress, as a country, and we have more to do on a number of disabilities. Based on the figures the Deputy gave, we have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is 100% correct. I recall from my time in the Department of Health, there would be a discussion on school leavers every year. I found it slightly insulting, because the discussion was on what we would do about a day care or a respite place. These are very important provisions, on which we need to do more, but they are not the totality. At the time children were talking to their...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his enthusiasm for the potential expansion of UL into County Clare. When we are discussing UL, I take this opportunity to put on the record of the House my congratulations for Professor Kerstin Mey on her formal appointment as president of UL. When she was made interim president she was the first female president of an Irish university. She is now the full-time,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: Hearing of any job loss is devastating for the individual, for their family and for the community. I can certainly tell the Deputy the infrastructure of my Department and of the State will not be found wanting in terms of doing all we can to help people reskill, retrain and access employment. Some of that falls to myself and some to the Minister for Social Protection, with respect to the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research and Development (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his question and for raising an important issue. Strengthening the engagement and dialogue between researchers and wider society is critical. We saw that during the pandemic when we had expert advice. We did well, largely, when we followed expert advice during the pandemic and when we did not, it did not go as well, to put it mildly. I see a core mission of my...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research and Development (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: This is one of those questions that gets me thinking in this space. I am approaching this engagement on that basis. I agree with the Deputy regarding the poor public awareness of science and research. That extends even to our science and research sector, what it is doing daily and how vital it is. I make the point repeatedly in government that there is not a challenge that we face as a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research and Development (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: We have an excellent Civil Service, but it must be complemented by expert advice or, as the Deputy suggested, by providing opportunities for people within the Civil Service to gain that expertise. Ministers can be generalists, but we are reliant on the expert advice that we receive. The more we can embed that within public policymaking the better it will be. I will not have time to read...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his kind words and for his important question regarding third-level education in County Clare and the mid-west region. We have another question in this regard later, and it is an exciting time for the county from the perspective of third-level education. It is an exciting time for the mid-west. My answer to this question encompasses UL, but there is also the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I clearly outlined in this House this morning my views on the changes and policy shifts that are needed for student accommodation. I also outlined the actions that I am taking in this regard along with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, and the wider Government. I get a little frustrated when people talk about yesterday's budget and then reference capital projects that were not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I agree with much of what the Deputy says but I do not believe that any institution is doing anything wrong. I would not use that word because I genuinely believe that everybody is applying the public health advice to their institution. I attend a meeting almost every Friday of a steering group where we have input from around the country from all the representative bodies, the student...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: On that I agree 100% and I will certainly do that. I will probably be meeting them again this Friday as part of our steering group. The reading week or mid-term break - it is called different things in different institutions - is an important moment to recalibrate and take stock. I understand that is what many institutions intend to do. Trinity College Dublin, which I mentioned as an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Michael Collins for his best wishes and send my best wishes to Deputy Mattie McGrath and wish him a speedy recovery. He would normally be here very vociferously asking this question and I am sure he will be monitoring my reply very carefully. I was delighted to see the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest open its doors at the start of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I agree that I would like to see our technological universities develop accommodation. I see it as important for students and their well-being and for regional development that people will choose to come to the regions and access their university education as well as people from the regions being able to access it in their own areas. I see a huge benefit from a regional development and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his good wishes and his important question. I will not repeat the points I made when replying to Deputy Conway-Walsh but they stand with regard to this question too. I hope and expect that Waterford Institute of Technology will become a technological university shortly. I take the point that the Deputy makes but I disagree strongly with his assertion that my...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: I commit to engaging with and reverting to the Deputy on the specific issue he raised at the end of his contribution. The point we are making is somewhat the same. The Deputy says I have not done anything to assist. I am saying that I have done exactly what I think the Deputy is asking me to do. Along with my Government colleagues and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, I have rectified...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (13 Oct 2021)

Simon Harris: The strategy is not withering on the vine. The targets of the strategy have all been exceeded. The 2019 target was exceeded and as of the second quarter of this year, some 10,700 bed spaces have been completed. I am making the point that we need to move beyond the strategy. This strategy measures how much private, purpose-built student accommodation was built. There is a role for that....