Results 6,141-6,160 of 6,467 for speaker:James Lawless

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: The Government recognises third level education can be a significant cost for families and students. In Budgets 2023 and 2024 my Department was able to provide further financial assistance to students most in need by increasing maintenance grant rates.Effective from January 2023, all maintenance grant holders received an increase in their grant rate of between 10% and 14%.Effective from...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy will be aware that Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) is a pathway for degree holders who want to pursue a medical career on an accelerated four-year programme. Students pursuing GEM programmes do so as second degree courses and consequently are not eligible for funding under the Free Fees Initiative. They are also not eligible for funding under the Student Grant Scheme as they do not...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Research and Development (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: The North-South Research Programme (NSRP) is jointly funded by the Higher Education Authority and the Shared Island Initiative. In March 2022, over €37million was awarded from the Shared Island Fund to support this programme, based on three strands, viz: (i) bilateral researcher-researcher projects (ii) emerging hubs of excellence (iii) Partnerships of Scale. Focusing specifically...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: My officials have been in contact with the Deputy's staff and we are awaiting clarification on this question.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: My officials have been in contact with the Deputy's staff and we are awaiting clarification on this question.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Research and Development (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: Science Foundation Ireland stands dissolved as of 1 August 2024 under the Research and Innovation Act, 2024. All functions and funding for the agency have been transferred to the new competitive research and innovation funding agency Taighde Éireann - Research Ireland, which was established on the same date. Grants to Science Foundation Ireland were made in two ways (1) capital grants...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: My officials are in the process of obtaining the requested information from SOLAS and will forward a response to you separately. My officials will endeavour to provide you with the correct information, in the required format, as promptly as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: I would like to clarify that as part of Budget 2025 Cost of Living measures, for the 2024/2025 academic year, eligible post-graduate students benefited from a once off €1,000 increase to the Postgraduate Fee contribution rising from €4,000 to €5,000. Ahead of Budget 2026, I will publish an options paper, which will identify costs and potential impacts of various...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: With effect from September 2024, all student maintenance grants for eligible post-graduate students were fully restored for the first time since the financial crash. Eligible students also received a pro-rata increase effective from January 2024. The annual rates of maintenance grants payable and the income thresholds applied are now the same for undergraduate and postgraduate students. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: The Funding the Future framework published in May 2022, outlines the vision for how higher education will be funded and how this will support students, employers and wider society. The framework identified an amount of €307m as representing the quantum of increase in core funding required to deliver enhanced performance, strategic reforms and strengthened quality of outcomes. Over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Guardian Status (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme 2025, an applicant, who has a non-legal guardian in receipt of the Guardians payment from the Department of Social Protection, may have their application considered for the Special Rate Grant payment subject to meeting all other eligibility criteria. The special rate of maintenance grant is payable at adjacent (€3,230) and non-adjacent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: The Student Grant Scheme is targeted at those students who are most in need of financial assistance and the Special Rate of grant is a key tool in targeting student grant assistance at the cohort of students who are most in need. The qualifying criteria for the special rate of maintenance grant in the 2024/25 Student Grant Scheme was as follows: (i) The student must qualify for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (28 May 2025)

James Lawless: Under the Student Grant Scheme, ‘holiday earnings’ is income that a student has earned outside of term time in the previous tax year which can be deducted from the total income assessed, up to a maximum level. A student’s earning is taken into consideration over the year and is treated as income with the exception of earnings over holiday periods. Over the past few...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Health Services Staff (29 May 2025)

James Lawless: My Department and I are committed to expanding the number of places available on Medicine Programmes in a sustainable way in collaboration with my cabinet colleague Minister Carroll MacNeill and her officials in the Department of Health. In July 2022 an agreement was announced to increase the number of annual intake places available for Irish and EU students by 200. This increase has been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (29 May 2025)

James Lawless: I am acutely conscious of the financial challenges facing students and the need for the progressive implementation of measures to address costs as a barrier to education. I am committed to easing this burden for students and their families in a financially sustainable way. Almost all full-time undergraduate students have their tuition fees paid in full by the State through the Free Fees...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (29 May 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy will be aware that Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) is a pathway for degree holders who want to pursue a medical career on an accelerated four-year programme. Students pursuing GEM programmes do so as second degree courses and consequently are not eligible for funding under the Free Fees Initiative. They are also not eligible for funding under the Student Grant Scheme as they do not...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (29 May 2025)

James Lawless: My officials are working closely with the Department of Health to expand the healthcare workforce capacity of the country, and to create more opportunities for students who wish to pursue these professions, including in dentistry and oral healthcare. A list of all first year enrolments, by nationality, is in the attached document provided by the Higher Education Authority (HEA). The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (29 May 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 687, 688 and 689 together. The student enrolment data requested by the Deputy is contained in the attached spreadsheet. This data was sourced from the HEA Student Records System (SRS) and is the most recent available. The number of CAO places may fluctuate year on year for any given course, the new entrant data in the attached is reflective of the number...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (29 May 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 690 and 691 together. The student enrolment data requested by the Deputy regarding medicines contained in the attached spreadsheet. This data was sourced from the HEA Student Records System (SRS) and is the most recent available. The number of CAO places may fluctuate year on year for any given course, the year 1 data for Irish/EU students in the attached...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (29 May 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 692, 693, 708 and 709 together. The student enrolment data requested by the Deputy regarding dentistry and pharmacy is contained in the attached spreadsheet. This data was sourced from the HEA Student Records System (SRS) and is the most recent available. The number of CAO places may fluctuate year on year for any given course, the new entrant data for...