Results 6,561-6,580 of 45,495 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: Following the decision by the college referred to by the Deputy to withdraw its Applied Social Care degree from consideration for approval by CORU, engagements have been ongoing between my Department's officials, the Department of Health, CORU, Quality and Qualifications Ireland and the college to work to identify alternative options for the affected students. The options available to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: The Estimates for Public Services 2023 were published as part of the Budget 2023 Expenditure report.The Higher Education allocation for 2023 includes an increase of Higher Education Funding in the amount of, €40 million, to address the sustainable funding of Higher Education as laid out in Funding the Future, including - Improved staffing and capacity building in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: The Estimates for Public Services 2023 were published as part of the Budget 2023 Expenditure report. The Higher Education allocation for 2023 includes an allocation of €21million towards Technological University development under the National Recovery & Resilience Plan Allocation (NRRP). The 2023 allocation is the year 2 allocation under the NRRP Priority Component 3: Social...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: 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. A student may be assessed as an independent student (i.e. assessed without reference to parental income and address) if he/she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Budget 2023 (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science's non-pay allocation as at Budget 2022 was €1,647.9 million (€1,488.6 million core funding and €159.3 million temporary funding) and not €1,612.2 million as shown on Chart 1(a), page 59 of Part II - Expenditure Allocations 2022publication which was printed in error. This figure...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: The capital allocation for my Department for 2022 was €552 million: €538 million funding under the National Development Plan (€534 million core funding, €4 million temporary National Recovery and Resilience (NRRP) Funding) and €14 million funding from the Shared Island Fund. As at Budget 2023 the capital allocation to my Department increased to €588...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: I will be bringing a paper outlining proposals to increase the supply of student accommodation before the Cabinet Committee on Housing shortly, including proposals relating to a new model approach whereby for the first time the State would assist directly in bridging the gap between development costs and rental affordability in relation to the provision of additional student accommodation....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: Apprentices waiting for Phase 2,4 & 6 at end of September 2022: Trade Family Trade Phase 2 Phase 4 Phase 6 Overall Total Construction Brick and Stonelaying 67 10 4 81 Carpentry and Joinery 704 35 98 837 ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 145 together. I was pleased to be able to allocate a once off payment of €500 in 2022 to PhD students currently supported by Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council, and an increase of €500 to the stipend baseline of €18,500 for 2023 for PhD students currently supported by Science Foundation Ireland and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: Maynooth University recently informed my Department that its’ Governing Authority has taken the difficult decision to terminate the Maynooth University Student Centre contract. My Department does not have any direct involvement in the project in question, as no direct exchequer funding was being provided by my Department for this project, which was solely being funded by European...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: As part of Budget 2023 I have secured a significant cost of living package for third level students including a once-off €1,000 state financial support towards the undergraduate student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for my Department’s free fees schemes. Students attending part time courses are not eligible for the free fees schemes and therefore...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: MTU and UCC are autonomous bodies under legislation and the day-to-day operation of the institutions including the procedures related to the withdrawal from courses; the refund of any fees paid or enrollment on courses via transfer are matters for the institution. In this regard students seeking to transfer will need to follow the procedures of the institutions and any student seeking to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: A student may be assessed as an independent student (i.e., assessed without reference to parental income and address) if he/she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved course and is not ordinarily resident with his/her parents from the previous 1st October. Otherwise, he/she would be assessed as a dependent student, i.e., assessed with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (12 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: The number of appeals heard the Independent Student Grant Appeals Board in 2021 was 724. Of those appeals, 424 cases were upheld, 244 were overturned, 44 were overturned and referred back to the awarding authority for further assessment.A further 10 appeals were withdrawn by the appellant in 2021.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Transport (11 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science applies best value practices when sourcing travel arrangements, either domestic or international. The usage of domestic flights is exceedingly rare. We do not believe the requirement for a specific Department policy exists at the present time. Should that situation alter, the Department would of course review the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (11 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 551 and 557 together. Apprentices are primarily employees and all of the 66 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 with the employer paying the apprentice during both on-the-job and off-the-job training elements of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (11 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: Tackling sexual violence and harassment has been and will continue to a particular policy priority for me and my Department. In fact, one of the very first actions I took after my appointment as Minister in 2020 was to write to all publicly funded higher education institutions outlining my commitment to tackling sexual violence and harassment in higher education and requesting that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (11 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: Under my Department’s Free Fees schemes the Exchequer provides funding toward the tuition fee costs of eligible Irish/EU/EEA/Swiss and UK undergraduate higher education students who are pursuing an approved course of study at an approved higher education institution. All students eligible for the free fees schemes receive state support whereby the State pays the cost of tuition fees...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (11 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: I was pleased to announce as part of Cost of Living measures in Budget 2023 a once off increase in the Post Graduate fee grant by €1,000 from €3,500 to €4,500. Postgraduate students who meet the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution will benefit from this measure. Postgraduate students who receive the Special Rate of grant will not receive this as they...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (11 Oct 2022)

Simon Harris: As part of Budget 2023 I have secured a significant cost of living package for third level students. As part of the cost of living measures in Budget 2023, postgraduate Students who meet the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution Grant will receive a once-off increase of €1,000 in the grant, which is increasing from €3,500 to €4,500 and is due to be...