Results 3,981-4,000 of 46,522 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (25 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) is the pharmacy regulator. It is responsible for setting the standards of education and training for pharmacists qualifying in Ireland. This includes developing standards and carrying out the accreditation of pharmacy degree programmes. In August 2014, the Minister for Health approved changes to the education and training of pharmacists. This...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the committee. It is a very long list of topics, which I am delighted to try to cover. I will cover some of them in my opening statement and then, no doubt, we will pick some of them up in the exchanges. In budget 2024, we worked to secure what is objectively a significant cost-of-education package for third-level students. This included a €1,000 reduction in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: I will quote from the meeting I had with the USI the day before we announced the policy, where they described the policy as extremely welcome. People have to say in public what they say in private. If they do not, I will call them out on it. We had a meeting that lasted a couple of hours. It was a good and engaging meeting. We have listened to 22,801 students. They will contact the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: We will be okay on the clock. I am not trying to eat the Deputy's time. There are other elements that are factually new. I had no mandate or permission from Government to ask the technological universities to put forward proposals-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: -----and we now do. I am rejecting out of hand the idea that there were no new policy decisions taken by Government. The Government minutes will show that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: We are very busy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: If the Deputy would like to write to me with any specific examples of what she feels are reannouncements-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: -----I would really appreciate it because I am fed up with the generalities here. My Department is working extraordinarily hard on making real and positive impacts as regards pathways for education. A big part of what we do is communicating with citizens, often citizens who have been locked out of education. We will continue to communicate with them. I wish to be clear in that regard. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: No, hang on. They asked for this grant.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: What the universities are saying is that we should do this. If I told this committee today that we were going to build purpose-built student accommodation in the regions, which we are, by the way, the Deputy's next comment would be that this would take a significant time, which would be fair to say because we do not have the designs or the planning permission yet. In the interim, we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: We do not yet know. To be clear, the universities asked for the devolved grant. I can think of one example in Mayo, not too far from the Deputy, where there is an old barracks site that could be put to good use.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: If the Deputy asked the universities how many vacant buildings they have on campus, that is a very limited question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: It is about properties in their communities. We are now putting out a call for proposals. We are asking the technological universities in particular what they believe they can do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: Eurostat already conducted an analysis in respect of our institutions in advance of the Higher Education Authority Act 2022. I do not believe we are waiting on another piece from Eurostat.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: That is a conversation we can have with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. There is a question as to how much appetite the State has for taking debt onto the balance sheet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: No, it has not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: However, to be clear, as I said on Friday, I believe we should not necessarily tie ourselves to any one method of helping. For example----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: We could well decide that the best way is the devolved grant for vacant buildings. The borrowing framework is already legislated for in the Technological Universities Act 2018. I believe it is now-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Update on Key Issues: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (24 Jan 2024)

Simon Harris: -----a policy decision for the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.