Results 38,081-38,100 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (18 May 2022)

Simon Harris: The number of apprentices on each programme in tabular form for end of March 2022 is attached, A breakdown of apprentices on each programme for April is not yet available as it is being collated by SOLAS. Craft apprentice registrations have experienced a marked increase in interest over the past 4 years. In 2021, a record 8,607 new apprentices were registered, this is an increase of nearly...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (18 May 2022)

Simon Harris: A key objective of the ‘Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025’is to ensure that the apprenticeship system will increase its contribution to meeting Ireland’s skills and human capital requirements by delivering on a target of 10,000 apprenticeship registrations per annum by 2025. Craft apprentice registrations have experienced a marked increase in interest over the past...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (18 May 2022)

Simon Harris: Universities and Institutes of Technology determine their own procedures for admission. The CAO process applications for undergraduate, and some postgraduate, courses on their behalf. Decisions on admissions are made by the Higher Education Institutions who then instruct the CAO to make offers to successful candidates. Neither I nor my Department have a role in the operation of the CAO...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (18 May 2022)

Simon Harris: Following a call for proposals under the FET College of the Future Major Projects Fund, I understand that a Strategic Assesment Report in relation to the Cavan Institute proposal has now been submitted by Cavan Monaghan ETB to SOLAS. The Deputy will be aware that it was agreed that the Cavan Institute project, previously part of the Department of Education school building programme, would be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (18 May 2022)

Simon Harris: I am committed to the progressive implementation of measures to address costs as a barrier to education, within the overall context of Government policy towards costs of living and other relevant strategies including those related to access and participation in education. It is important to highlight the very substantial financial support, currently well in excess of half a billion...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (18 May 2022)

Simon Harris: Under the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved full-time course at an approved institution. Part-time courses are not currently eligible for support under the scheme. In 2021 I approved a review of the Student Grant Scheme to ensure that adequate student supports are in place, alongside the sustainable funding model for the sector. One...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: As is Deputy Conway-Walsh, I am keenly aware of the pressure felt by students applying to enter higher education. I assure her and the House that I am taking action to relieve these pressures. I requested quite some time ago that my officials would engage with the higher education sector on the creation of additional places in, as the Deputy rightly says, key areas as identified by our...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: I would be delighted to come here and debate my record in the Department of Health but we probably do not have time in the 58 seconds available to me other than to say the number of people working in the health service grew every year I was Minister for Health. I agree with the Deputy that time is of the essence in terms of providing clarity on the additional numbers. We are honing in on...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: There are two parts to workforce planning. One is whether we are training enough people in any profession. The second is that if we are training enough people whether they choose to stay working in that area or to stay working in Ireland. The role of the Department is to work with line Departments to identify the number of places they believe are required to adequately meet workforce...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Fees (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: As Deputy Ó Ríordáin is aware, on 4 May I launched the Funding the Future framework, which includes the Government's policy response to the Cassells report and the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support, DG REFORM, reviews on the future of higher education. It clearly sets out my intention to implement a progressive range of measures to address costs as a barrier to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Fees (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: While I am a little bit younger that the Deputy, I do remember the policy work of former Minister Niamh Bhreathnach, someone I hold in high regard. If I were to be totally honest, and this is an objective statement, the fees were reduced but the core funding piece was not addressed. What we are trying to do, and we have been working on this on a cross-party basis, is to try to do both. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Fees (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: That is where I would like to get to but I do not want to mislead the House or students in how we will make progress in this issue. Students and families have been waiting too long for progress on this matter. We do not want to engage in a situation of creating an expectation that cannot be met. I would be fascinated to know if the Deputy or anyone else in this House were the Minister...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Costs (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: The honest answer to the question as to when we will publish the paper is that it will be in advance of the budget. I will get the Deputy a more specific answer than that. It will be in enough time for the Sinn Féin's alternative budget or pre-budget submissions and for me to begin to grapple with and discuss these issues. One imagines it will be published in the autumn but I will...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Costs (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. The SUSI grant review is an extremely important piece of work. It provides us with absolute clarity on the key issues that students and other stakeholders wish to see us address in better supporting students and their families in this country. Even in advance of publishing the review, we had begun to make progress on those recommendations. We introduced a very...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Costs (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: I will certainly work with the Deputy and others in the House on the issue. In terms of context, I think it is important to note that we live in a country where more than four out of ten students receive student grants and more than four out of ten students do not pay the €3,000 registration fee. I say that because I often worry that a secondary school student might be listening to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: I am very aware of the challenge caused by the withdrawal of the existing loan products designed for students wishing to study medicine through the graduate entry route. Indeed, in recent days I met students in UCD to discuss the issue. Decisions regarding which loan products to offer are, of course, a commercial matter for the banks concerned. That is a statement of fact. However, I do...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: Before the commercial decision of the bank was made, I had already had a number of very useful meetings with students of graduate entry medicine. They made points like those made by the Deputy. From my former role as Minister for Health, I think that diversity in professions, and in the medical profession, is a good thing. I also think that diverse routes of entry into medicine are good....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: That is a fair comment. I will certainly take the Deputy's considerations on board. For the record, graduate entry medicine courses are not approved for funding under the student grant schemes because progression is a key tenet. Students accessing graduate entry medicine will, as a matter of course, hold a level 8 qualification prior to entry. Completion of a graduate-entry medicine...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Admissions (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his question. There is a very important issue there on the date of the results. The challenge was borne out in trying to do something good by students to ensure that there was a second opportunity to sit the leaving certificate for those impacted by Covid. At the same time, this is a call for the State Examinations Commission, SEC, to make, rather than the Minister...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Admissions (19 May 2022)

Simon Harris: The short answer to the Deputy's question about whether we have had engagement with the Department of Health is "Yes". The most intense area of engagement, to be truthful, has been around places in medicine. As I said in answer to an earlier question, it is the job of my Department to try to respond to the workforce planning needs of other Departments. It is not my Department's job to say...