Results 5,721-5,740 of 46,260 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I look forward to Deputy Ó Murchú and I having this meeting on personal assistants and how we can make progress on that. Skillnet Ireland is the agency that can reach in to businesses to try to provide those transversal skills and to provide short courses. On the point Deputy Ó Cathasaigh made, Skillnet Ireland becoming Ireland's leading agency for upskilling and reskilling...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I fully agree with the Deputy. With World Autism Month coming up, and Deputy Stanton has posed a question that will enable me to get into this more, we have so much more we need to do here. As a country, we have made quite a lot of progress in primary and secondary schools. There is still far too much of a cliff edge from my perspective for too many students who are neurodiverse, autistic...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Courses Accreditation (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: Yes, it has been brought to my attention. The Deputy is on to something and I thank him for highlighting it because it has enabled me to probe the system to try to resolve the matter. As the Deputy rightly says, this is a really important step and is something people have been looking for for ages, namely, moving this thing online and saving people time and hassle in terms of having to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Courses Accreditation (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I am largely satisfied. I am satisfied but I always put a caveat in because this is a new system. There is an implementation process, no one should be complacent, and it needs to continue to be monitored. There are a couple of things. First, this issue was identified as a result of the SOLAS helpline. The system worked, if you like. People were ringing in about it and SOLAS identified...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I agree with Deputy Ó Murchú. There is no ETB in Ireland that has done as well as LMETB in terms of putting forward exciting projects. We see them both in Dundalk and Drogheda. Later today I will publish a progress report on the Drogheda implementation group. My sector of further and higher education, as distinct from my role in the Department of Justice, played an important...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is having a busy day with the school tours. I join with him in welcoming the second group of sixth years from Newtownforbes national school. They are very welcome to the Dáil. The Deputy is right. What he read out with regard to its last meeting is an indication of the valuable work done by the National Skills Council. Away from the day to day stuff, it provides the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: If there is one part of the country that has seen the benefit of the new Department, I hope it is the Deputy's county, constituency and city of Waterford. We had a good week this week and I thank the Deputy for his work on that. We did not have a university for the south east when he entered the Dáil or when I entered this role. We have worked together on a cross-party basis and in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: A large body of work has been done by the co-chairs, for which I thank them. They have had meetings with more than 30 stakeholder organisations, including an all-day in-person workshop on 8 March. They have had a public consultation, through which they received approximately 750 written submissions, which indicates the energy behind the approach to change. I expect to receive the report...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I welcome the students the Deputy has brought from his constituency. Under the student grant scheme, SUSI grants are awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the conditions of funding, including nationality and residency. The scheme has a strong statutory underpinning and is operated in accordance with the provisions of the law,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: Our country is all the better for the diversity in communities across Ireland. The story of the Deputy's constituents shows people who want a bright future and the best opportunities for their children in terms of education and employment prospects while also making a contribution to Ireland, our economy and the skill shortages that exist in many workplaces. Applying for and being...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I have nothing further to add other than to thank Deputy Flaherty and say that I will revert to him on the matter.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: We do our best.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Provision (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputies Flaherty and Niamh Smyth for tabling this question. The National Skills Council is the high-level advisory group on skills in Ireland and provides an opportunity for strategic dialogue and advice to inform Government decision-making to ensure our skills ecosystem continues to be flexible, agile and responsive to the needs of the future world of work. A key work plan...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: Not to get ahead of myself, but I know from conversations I have had with the UU, ATU, the shared island unit and others that there is strong and exciting pipeline of projects coming from both ATU Letterkenny and UU Derry with respect to things they can do together. These are in the research space and the medical education space, especially. The senior management teams of both ATU Donegal...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: This is a tricky question for me because usually when I am asked if I have engaged with another Department I can say I will, but I am currently the Minister for Justice as well so it is a question asking whether have I engaged with myself, which I do regularly.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputies Gino Kenny and Boyd Barrett for the question. It is an important issue. The quality of our researchers is fundamental to the quality of our research system and its collaboration with partners in industry and policy-makers in both Ireland and abroad. Under pillar 4 of our national research and innovation strategy, Impact 2030, we have committed to ensuring that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I have not been made aware of the issue Deputy Conway-Walsh raised, but I will certainly become aware of it and revert to the Deputy on it. To be clear, the overall policy direction I want to go in is financially to support better our PhD research. The Deputy and I share that view. On what Deputy Kenny said, there are about 11,000 PhD and research masters students in Ireland and about...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: The RTB is not under my remit but I will seek that information. It is important to have that information. If I secure that information, I will share it with Deputy Conway-Walsh. From memory I know that my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, issued a circular in regard to ensuring that student accommodation was utilised for that purpose. There is possibly an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: What I have responsibility for is the higher education sector, the actual direct college-owned student accommodation. There is more of that this year than there was last year, which had more than the year before that. There is more now than there was before I entered office. On the purpose-built student accommodation piece, the Deputy’s point about the private market is not an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (30 Mar 2023)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Pringle for raising these issues on a regular basis in terms of how we can try to get that education cluster in the north west going. Deputy Pringle may be aware that I spoke at the launch of the North West Tertiary Education Cluster last October. That was an opportunity to meet with and thank the leadership of Atlantic Technological University of Donegal, Donegal ETB, the...