Results 3,281-3,300 of 45,291 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: Apprentices are primarily employees and all of the 73 available apprenticeships are undertaken under a contract of employment. For the majority of apprenticeships, the rate of pay is agreed between the apprentice and the employer. The apprentice continues to be paid during both on-the-job and off-the-job training elements of the apprenticeship. While attending off-the-job training, craft...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 379, 385, 387 and 389 together. The tertiary education system plays a central role in ensuring that our graduates from higher education, further education and training and from apprenticeship are equipped with the cognitive skills, the essential transversal skills, and the vocational and professional skills and competencies which will equip them for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: The ‘Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025’ sets out new ways of structuring, funding, and promoting apprenticeships to make apprenticeship more accessible to employers and learners. Expansion to date has widened the impact of apprenticeship to areas of skills shortage such as engineering, technology skills, logistics, and fintech. The ambition of the Plan is to reach 10,000...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: Following on from improvements made to the Student Grant Scheme in Budget 2023, a range of further measures were announced to enhance the scheme and other supports as part of Budget 2024. The once off cost-of-living measures benefiting students in the 2023/24 academic year will include: A €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 382 and 384 together. Supporting all third level students on their education journey and addressing and overcoming obstacles which may make this journey more challenging is a core strategic function of, and one of the key reasons for the establishment of, my Department. It should be said that there has been much progress made by my Department in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: My Department has made significant changes in the further and higher education, research, innovation and science sectors since its establishment in 2020, and are looking forward to seeing these sectors flourish over this current year and the years to follow. With 400,000 people enrolled in learning across further and higher education, the Department is responsible for a fairly sizeable...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Costs (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: In respect of Higher Education Costs - for the majority of students Budget 2023 and Budget 2024 has had the effect of reducing the cost of higher education. For the second year in a row, as a cost of living measure I have reduced the student contribution fee by €1,000 for free fees eligible students and increased the postgraduate fee contribution grant by €1000. I am very...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: The ‘Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025’ sets out new ways of structuring, funding, and promoting apprenticeships. The ambitions of the Plan span both financial and non-financial measures. Significant financial supports to employers that have been introduced include:The annual Employer Grant of €2,000 per apprentice means that employers of all apprentices now have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards (19 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: I was delighted to travel to East Clare earlier this week to announce that the proposal put forward by Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board for their FET campus near Scariff is to be funded as part of the next tranche of capital investment under the Further Education and Training (FET) Strategic Infrastructure Upgrade Fund. This funding will support Limerick and Clare Education...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank Senator Currie for raising this issue. I would not not be here to take this because I know how sincere she is in her work on this, how sincere her dad, the great Austin Currie, was in relation to this work and to building peace on this island, and I know how incredibly important he and his colleagues in the SDLP, especially John Hume, identified education to be. We have to go back...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Further and Higher Education (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: That is why the Senator and I are determined to ensure it is not all talk. This year, we have seen the all-island apprenticeships and the ring-fenced places in nursing and therapy. From next year, we will see an all-island approach to medicine. As the Senator stated, the Atlantic Technological University, working with Magee and the bigger campus in Derry, which the Government is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: As the Deputy is aware, graduate entry medicine is a pathway for degree holders who want to pursue a medical career on an accelerated four year programme. The Free Fees Initiative pays the tuition fees of eligible students undertaking their first full time undergraduate programme. The Free Fees Initiative does not meet fees in respect of students who are completing a second undergraduate...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Legal Cases (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: My Department is continuing to review relevant records to establish the situation in relation to information of the kind sought by the Deputy, i.e. with regard to legal cases taken against this Department in each of the past ten years and to date in 2023. As soon as this process has concluded, I will ensure that an appropriate response is forwarded to the Deputy, including with respect to any...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine. For student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents or a legal guardian, or as independent mature students. If you were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 292 and 293 together. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are autonomous bodies as set out in legislation and receive funding from a variety of sources including state grants; competitive funding; tuition fees and commercial/private income streams. My Department cannot instruct an institution to develop an area for overflow parking. Under the Public...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: Parliamentary Question No. 1008 of 21stMarch 2023 related to a list of major capital projects in which the Deputy requested details in respect of the progression of these projects. In my reply, I stated that the information sought was not available at the time but I am now in a position to provide the relevant information. Attached is the table of the capital projects list provided in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: The apprenticeship system is currently responding to a marked increase in demand over the past four years, driven by overall tertiary sector demand, Covid-related training backlogs, and growing demand for skills delivered through apprenticeship. Given these delays, it is the Government’s ambition to right-size apprenticeship capacity in line with the labour market demands, the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: There has been a strong growth in registrations for craft apprenticeship in a demand-led system, where employers in a buoyant construction sector are continuing to recruit strongly to meet their future skill needs. Craft apprenticeship registrations for 2022 and 2021 were in total 13,254, an increase of almost 40% over the preceding two years. The strength of the construction sector is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine. For student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents or a legal guardian, or as independent mature students (ie: assessed...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (18 Oct 2023)

Simon Harris: The difficulties faced by students in accessing affordable student accommodation is an issue of which I am actively pursuing. Government approval to develop a short and long term policy response was received in November 2022. This policy will address the supply of affordable student accommodation for priority group students attending publicly funded higher education institutions in Ireland....