Results 3,901-3,920 of 45,495 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I certainly will do that. I agree that the student accommodation piece on campus is, of course, about student accommodation, but it is about mental health, well-being, development, the college experience and reassurance, perhaps for the parent, to know that the student has safe accommodation on campus near where he or she is going about his or her business and education. It is my...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: Student accommodation is key. What we need to do here is change the mindset. Colleges need to see the provision of student accommodation as a core part of their work. That is not the Government lecturing them. It is the Government saying we will work with them on it. If they come forward with the plans, we will try and get some of the funding. Let us work in partnership to get that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Colm Burke for this important question. I assure the Deputy at the outset that significant engagement is ongoing between my Department, the Department of Health, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and the higher education sector to develop a joined-up approach to address system-level demand in health care disciplines, including radiation therapy. We are trying to move...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I find myself in agreement with Deputy Colm Burke. We need to be training more people to work in the health service. We need to be specifically training more people to work in areas including the one the Deputy has mentioned around radiation therapy, but we need to do it in a manner that works. We need to do it in a way that is not ad hoc. We need to do it in a way that is grounded in the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I have just finished my apprenticeship in the Department of Justice and I am very aware of the issues the Deputy has raised about cybercrime, cybersecurity, how much crime is now moving online and the need for vigilance. The education sector needs to respond by providing opportunities for people in the public sector and in industry to develop the skills to respond. We also need to use the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Programme (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I am delighted to have the opportunity to reply and I will gently push back against the Deputy's assertion. Where did this new idea for an agency and research and innovation Bill come from? It very much came from Impact 2030, Ireland's research and innovation strategy, a key objective of which is this Bill and the new research agency. That innovation strategy was developed through an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Programme (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I absolutely agree with the Deputy. The IRC has done amazing work but, of course, it does not exist in statute. It was effectively established by ministerial letter. It is a sub-office, if you like, of the HEA. As I have said to the research community, I see this as an opportunity to fundamentally put on a statutory footing all that has been good about the IRC. This is not a merger or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Programme (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I was smiling to myself because I am aware of that issue but even if I was not so aware, I would be by now because Deputy Ó Snodaigh raises the issue with me any time I bring any legislation through the House. Deputy Farrell is, of course, correct that there is such a requirement. It has not yet technically commenced but the spirit of the requirement is clearly in place in the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Legislative Programme (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: We should lead. Being honest, the name of the new agency has yet to be decided. We will, of course, fulfil our obligations. We need to consider what we call the agency in the context of promoting it internationally but I am very conscious of the Irish language piece. I am happy to engage on that point as we take the legislation through the House. I am sure the issue will also come out at...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I fully agree with the Deputy on his passionate contribution around apprenticeships. While "snobby" may or may not be the right word, we have had too narrow or elitist a view towards educational opportunities. It is this idea that if people go directly from school to university, they are a success, and another pathway is somewhat lesser. That is, of course, not true at all. ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I do not have that breakdown off the top of my head but from memory, approximately 6,000 of the current apprentices are in the craft area. That is roughly speaking where I would imagine we will land. There is a big push on developing craft apprenticeships and working with the construction and retrofitting sectors and the green economy because there are really key and acute issues there. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for raising this issue. He is absolutely right. The whole area of cybersecurity is a major issue of growing concern to both the public and private sectors and to modern life. We are seeing more and more crime now move from physically happening in a business place or in terms of a burglary in a home to online cybersecurity issues and cybercrime. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: Let it certainly go out from here because LMETB and Mr. O'Brien are doing absolutely brilliant work. We are really fortunate because that ETB just busts on through any challenges or bureaucratic blockages it might encounter from time to time in getting the job done. I am very complimentary of the work of LMETB and of Senator Craughwell. I had the chance to meet him on this issue and he...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: My plan is to make sure we use some of the resources available to the country to pitch in to meet the cost of building it. I was clear when I took office that I did not think the student accommodation policy where it is either left to the market or to the universities’ volition whether to decide to build student accommodation was adequate to the scale of a challenge that society,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I read that UCD Students Union survey. It is a very good piece of work. One practical thing we did for students and their parents with the cost of accommodation, which the survey also focused on, was extending the rent tax-credit. A student renting this year was eligible for the €500 for 2022 and for 2023. That is per student in the accommodation. That will have made a real...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: Yes, I do. I have had many conversations with university presidents where I have pointed out that student accommodation needs to be a core part of their offering because it affects their ability to attract or retain students, students’ mental health and well-being and their overall education experience. I am not saying it is widespread, but there is an idea that “we are a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: There were 3,011 apprentices enrolled in Cork Education and Training Board, ETB, across a large range, including plumbing and electrical, wind-turbine maintenance and insurance practitioner. A key strength of the apprenticeship model is that it is a demand-led approach to meeting workforce and skill requirements in our economy and country. As apprentices are employees, the demand for and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Irish Language (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: The ambition of South East Technological University, SETU, never fails to amaze me. It is a good thing. We have the Waterford Crystal site, there are plans for student accommodation and Deputy Ó Cathasaigh has rightly indicated that there is a Gaeltacht within the university's catchment area. I am happy to have follow-up conversations with SETU. I am sure the Higher Education...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Costs (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this question. It must be a priority for the House and we must continue to fund higher education properly. We brought a plan called "Funding the Future" to the Cabinet last year. There are two parts to it. Some people would like to discuss the first part, which is about how to fund institutions properly to deliver the education system we want. We are fully...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Costs (1 Jun 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his support for this area of focus. We will publish the cost-of-education paper well in advance of the budget. I had hoped to publish it around the time of the summer recess, but I will certainly do so before the House resumes in the autumn. There will be plenty of opportunities for the Government, Opposition, students unions, media, citizens and everyone else to...