Results 39,241-39,260 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Apprenticeship Programmes (30 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the supports that are made available to applicants for apprenticeships with learning difficulties; the type of supports available and if these are provided by SOLAS is being compiled by SOLAS. An answer will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (30 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: My department does not provide a direct funding stream for drugs and alcohol addiction services. My Department does, however, fund higher education institutions (HEIs) to put supports in place for students who are suffering from mental health and well-being issues and some students may require these supports as a result of addiction issues. I have recently announced a €3m increase in...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Reviews (30 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: My Department will soon begin a national review of State supports for PhD researchers. In this regard, I was pleased to recently appoint Dr Andrea Johnson and David Cagney as Co-Chairs for the review process. I do not intend to appoint any other members, but I do intend that the process will engage widely with stakeholders. The scope of the review includes: - Current PhD researcher supports...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Student Accommodation (30 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 156 together. Since taking up office, both my Department officials and I have engaged and continue to engage on an ongoing basis with the Minister and Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the wider higher education sector and relevant stakeholders on student accommodation issues including within the context of the advancement of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Consultations (30 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: To take forward implementation of Funding the Future, I established a steering group which I chair alongside Professor Anne Looney and Professor Tom Collins. Two working groups have been established led by Professors Looney and Collins. The working group focused on skills, participation and cost is examining the potential to support students to avail of more flexible learning opportunities....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Consultations (30 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: The Government agreed a sustainable funding model for higher education in May 2022 following an extensive economic assessment undertaken through the European Commission's Directorate General for Reform. Funding the Future, a funding and reform framework for higher education, was launched on the 25thof May this year. We have committed to a mixed model of funding, including additional...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Capital Expenditure Programme (30 Nov 2022)

Simon Harris: The revised National Development Plan (NDP) published in October 2021 provided clarity on Departmental capital ceilings for the period 2022 – 2025. The table below sets out the 2023 capital ceilings. HE Capital €179m* HEA Capital €1m HE PPPs €40m FET Capital €60m** ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for the question. She is correct; the Government decision this week allocated an additional €32 million to HEIs for the provision of, as she said, 667 additional units. As the Deputy probably knows, they are in Maynooth, Galway and Limerick. I can come back on some of those details in a moment. My Department has been engaged intensively in examining...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I welcome the Deputy's welcome. I think there was political consensus in the House the State should intervene in providing funding to build college-owned student accommodation. We might have differing views but there was a general consensus across the House that needed to happen and it is now happening. If it does not sound too peculiar to say, I contend it is wrong to focus on the 667....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: There are two elements here. Everybody benefits from extra supply. If we take Maynooth University, we know for every person who got a student accommodation bed on campus this year there were six applications. Therefore, even at current market rates there is demand for more. To be clear, what we are funding are not-for-profit units. We are funding publicly-funded institutions to deliver...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We have obviously introduced some measures in the budget as an immediate and tangible relief against some of the challenges of the rising cost of living. This included a once-off payment in 2022 of €500 for PhD students who receive an Irish Research Council, IRC, or Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, award and a €500 increase to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: This is a root-and-branch review. It is not simply looking at what the level of the stipend should be; it is looking at all the issues, including how a PhD researcher is classified and whether they are students or employees. I have had engagement with postgraduates. There are some countries people reference as good examples of how PhD researchers are looked after where they are employees...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I do not think that is right.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: We can certainly agree that retaining and recruiting the best talent into our country is key. It is key to our future economic and social well-being. That is why in Impact 2030, Ireland's national research and innovation strategy, we quite rightly place a real focus on the researchers themselves. This review stems from that and from listening directly to researchers and postgraduate...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for highlighting this important issue. By any objective measure, there has been an unprecedented level of focus on apprenticeships by my Department since its creation. In fact, I would argue that one of the big benefits of the establishment of my Department two and a half years ago was a policy focus on the area of apprenticeship, whether through the apprenticeship action...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The answers the Deputy gets are not changing. There was more than 11,000 people waiting at the peak in August 2021. We engaged very intensively with SOLAS to find out how long somebody would generally wait, forgetting Covid-19. If Covid-19 had never happened, the normal time somebody would generally wait between one phase and the other is six months. That is the standard time people wait...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I agree with the last point but the Deputy knows when quoting those figures that obviously Covid-19 had an impact on the pace at which people were able to fully qualify as an apprentice. I do not think that is news; that is a reality of the Covid-19 pandemic when our training centres had to shut down for sustained periods of time to keep people safe. The more important figure is that more...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Technological Universities (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Objectively, this was a really great week for education in Galway. We saw approximately €100 million announced in projects for further education and higher education in the city and county of Galway. We saw a multi-million euro development in the Deputy's own bailiwick where I know he lectured, in the Atlantic Technological University - some €19 million from memory - that will...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Technological Universities (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I agree with the Deputy's sentiments. I am aware this bundle has been on the run for a while and I hear his frustration on that point. I want to assure him and his constituents, and the staff and students in ATU Galway in particular, that things have not been standing still. There is a very live process underway in relation to bundle 2 which includes this STEM project for Galway. I have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Technological Universities (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Not that it is needed, but I offer my encouragement to the Deputy in continuing his work. There is a major vehicle for the west and the north west in the form of the ATU. There is a brilliant leadership team place, including the president, Dr. Orla Flynn, and the chair of the governing authority, Maura McNally. I was in that beautiful library on Monday last. To use the hotel as an...