Results 37,261-37,280 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Reform (3 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: Tackling sexual violence and harassment in our tertiary education system is and will remain, a key policy focus for me and my Department. One of the key outputs from the project referred to by the Deputy was a report to the technological higher education sector, which included sectoral guidance on the implementation of the Framework for Consent in HEIs. In August 2020, I expanded the remit...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (3 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: Tackling sexual violence and harassment in our tertiary education system is and will remain, a key policy focus for me and my Department. I really want to thank students and staff across the country who took the time to engage with this survey and share their experiences with us. A total of 11,417 responses were analysed (7,901 students and 3,516 staff) and inform the findings. The survey...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: Sinn Féin's government in Northern Ireland has decided that the A-levels should proceed. It did not offer anybody in Northern Ireland a choice. I do not think young people who look across the island will ignore the breathtaking hypocrisy of the stance that Sinn Féin has about the exams down here and the stance it has about the exams up there. I have met students, as I am sure the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: Sinn Féin has representation in the North. We generally engage constructively, but taking young people for fools is not going to wash at all.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: The leader of Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland is, or at least was, the joint head of the Government. A-levels are going ahead with no predicted or calculated grades. Where Sinn Féin is in government, it is not making the announcement that it is shouting and roaring for down here in opposition. Be that as it may, Sinn Féin is actually a partitionist party when it comes to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: It has to be said; it cannot just be one-way traffic. It cannot just be given; it has to be taken as well

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: If Sinn Féin is serious about government, it needs to be consistent in its stance, North and South. With regard to this issue and what steps I am taking, this Government has increased the places in third level by 6,000 over the past two years. That is a massive increase. It is important that leaving certificate students hear that the number of applications to the CAO on deadline...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: That is wrong.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: I fully agree with the Deputy that this year should not just be about announcing an additional number of college places. More college places will be available this year. As the Deputy rightly suggested, it has been the case in previous years as well. Budget 2022 provided approximately €20 million for extra growth in the higher education sector. There will be additional funding and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: No, it is not. It is about pathways, actually. It is about recognising that different students will want to do different things. I think the Deputy and I agree that it is about broadening the conversation beyond just higher education to further education apprenticeships. It is about ending the snobby and elitist view that when someone goes to a school, the student believes that the only...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the question, which is very timely. I have some positive news and perhaps we can build on it. Inclusion is a core goal for my Department, for the House and for Members on all sides of this House. It is about ensuring that there is access and equity of access for all students of both further and higher education. It is most likely that we will publish a new national...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: I find myself in full agreement with the Deputy. To be honest, one of my concerns in respect of the national access plan, which has achieved a lot, is exactly what she and Senator Hoey have identified, that is, there are people with disabilities not counted within those figures. I think of students with autism or those with intellectual disabilities or dyslexia. There are others who are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: I will absolutely take that on board. I present the issue as two separate and distinct but very much interdependent parts, as does her question, in fairness. There is the capital piece, on which I expect we will make further progress through both the existing fund we have in place for students with disabilities and the drawdown of that fund to provide facilities such as sensory rooms that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Educational Disadvantage (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Moynihan very much for raising this issue, which I know is one in which he has a particular interest. Development of the new strategic action plan for equity, participation and success in higher education, which I call the national access and inclusion plan, is at its very final stage. The plan is being developed collaboratively between my Department and the Higher Education...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Educational Disadvantage (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: The submissions process has formally closed but it is never too late to submit a good idea. If there are any further groups or ideas the Deputy wishes to bring forward, I will be very happy to hear from them. The Deputy is 100% right as he has described those at the margins. One of the things a group or stakeholder driving the strategy said was that there needed to be additional priority...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Educational Disadvantage (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: I am 100% up for that. I hope the Oireachtas and Oireachtas committees, including Deputy Michael Moynihan, can genuinely play a helpful and active role in monitoring this. It is not a static document. In my term as Minister, I have been regularly invited to the oversight group. We publish the documents and the targets, but then the work begins. Our figures for higher education...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: This is something on which we agree. I passionately believe we have to reduce the cost of education. We have already taken a number of steps since the Government took office just under two years ago. I will not go through them all in the time available. There is the first increase in the SUSI grants. I accept that some of them do not take effect until September, but some of them have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the points she raised and for the constructive manner in which she did so. It is important to say there are existing supports available, and I always say this particularly when I visit schools because sometimes students, when they hear about the cost of education, might not perhaps be aware of that fact. That is worth saying whilst trying to improve them. More than...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: Surely the Deputy would like the Government to take an all-island approach.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (8 Feb 2022)

Simon Harris: It is a commitment under the Good Friday Agreement that I must fulfil as a Government Minister.