Results 261-280 of 5,794 for speaker:James Lawless

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. In relation to support available for students studying abroad, the Student Grant Scheme provides...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1918, 1926, 1930 and 1931 together. Craft apprentices are employees and are paid directly by their employer during the “on-the-job” training phases of their apprenticeship. Craft apprentice gross wage norms differ for different sectors, are set through collective bargaining, and may be underpinned by sectoral employment orders. When craft...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: Extensive engagement with the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), Student Unions, and students on student accommodation has been undertaken through various channels. These include, stakeholder engagement as part of the standardised design study, the HEA Student Survey in 2023 and 2024 and Departmental events, including the Cost of Education event in 2024. In addition, members of the USI...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1920 and 1921 together. The North South Research Programme (NSRP) is a collaborative scheme to promote all-island research activities which is funded under the Government’s Shared Island initiative. It is delivered by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of my Department. Research projects from across all disciplines are funded through...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Bodies (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The information in relation to the number of members of boards in each body under the aegis of his Department who have a professional accounting qualification, for each of the years 2020 to 2025 is being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it becomes available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Bodies (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The information in relation to identifying, by body name and associated skills gap, any skills gaps identified by the chairperson of that board in correspondence to his Department or a Minister in respect of the composition of the board of the body referred, for each year between 2020 and 2025, is being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it becomes available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Bodies (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The information in relation to confirming that for each year between 2020 and 2025 in respect of the boards of bodies under the aegis of his Department, at least one member of the audit and risk committee of that board has recent, relevant financial experience for each of those years is being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it becomes available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Bodies (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The information in relation to confirming that for each year between 2020 and 2025 in respect of the boards of bodies under the aegis of his Department, that the board has a terms of reference is being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it becomes available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: My Department disbursed €4.24m in capital funding between Carlow and Waterford ITs between 2021 and 30th April 2022. On foot of the establishment of SETU (Carlow and Waterford Campuses) from 1st May 2022, over €27m has been disbursed to the Technological University in question. Details of the amounts disbursed on an annual basis since 2021 are provided in the attached table.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: In September 2024, Kilkenny Carlow Education and Training Board (ETB) submitted a Preliminary Business Case proposal for Kilkenny city under the FET College of the Future Major Projects fund. The Approval Gate 1 assessment of the application, which determines whether "approval in principle" will be granted or not, was undertaken by the Evaluation Panel on the 16th of September 2024. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: Firstly, I wish to thank the Deputy for his suggestion in relation to the development of a centre of excellence for marine and airborne field robotics. As the Deputy may be aware, the MaREI Research Ireland Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine based in UCC is already conducting important work in this area. One of the aims of the Research Centre Programme operated by Research Ireland is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The detailed information that the Deputy is seeking is not readily available. My Department is currently collecting and collating the data required which will be provided to the Deputy as soon as it becomes available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Artificial Intelligence (19 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: My Department is currently considering potential use cases for the adoption of AI in its work, and a working group has been established to progress this. Limited circumstances in which AI is currently used include summarising text and workshop structuring. All text is reviewed and verified by a human. There are no AI systems in place that processes citizens' information. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Inquiries (6 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: 370. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine the issue of childcare shortages (details supplied); her plans to resolve this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10363/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (6 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy for this question. In March 2024, SIPTU and TUI, the unions representing tutors, agreed to a proposal to formally establish a new grade of adult educator with a standardised pay scale aligned with the Youthreach Resource Person grade. This scale has 13 points and two Long Service Increments. This proposal allows for incremental progression and a career path for tutors...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (6 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: In response to rising demand for apprenticeships from employers and learners, my Department secured a significant investment of €77.4 million for the apprenticeship system in Budget 2025. This represents the single largest investment in core apprenticeship funding since the formation of my department in 2020. There are now over 8,000 craft training places in Education and Training...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (6 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The higher education tuition fee payable by a student can vary depending on a variety of factors including the type of course and the student's access route. The assessment of a student’s application and the determination of the appropriate fee rate is a function of the institution attended. There are typically two rates of fee, an EU Rate or a non-EU fee rate. Higher education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (6 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The following are to be brought forward and signed by my Department during the first six months of 2025 but do not relate to transposition to EU Law:Student Grant Scheme 2025Student Support Regulations 2025Student Part-Time Fee Scheme for Specified Undergraduate Courses 2025Student Part-Time Fee Regulations for Specified Undergraduate Courses 2025 The Research and Innovation Act 2024 was...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (6 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: The Student Grant Scheme and the Student Part-Time Fee Scheme for Specified Undergraduate Courses are statutory based schemes administered by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). To qualify for student supports under the scheme, students must be attending an ‘approved course’ at an ‘approved institution’. The definition of an approved institution is set...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (6 Mar 2025)

James Lawless: My Department is committed to supporting the talent needs of the Irish SME sector. Skillnet Ireland established the MentorsWork scheme in 2020, in partnership with the Small Firms Association. MentorsWork connects SME owners and managers throughout Ireland with experienced mentors, helping them navigate business challenges such as strategic planning, financial management, digital...