Results 7,621-7,640 of 46,267 for speaker:Simon Harris

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

Simon Harris: The principal support provided by my Department in financial terms is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the terms of the Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The scheme is demand led and as...

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

Simon Harris: SUSI assesses grants under Student Grant Legislation set out by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. To be eligible for a grant, every applicant must fulfil the specific eligibility conditions of the Student Grant Scheme 2021 contained in articles 14 to 18 and must have a reckonable income within the limits and other requirements set out in...

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

Simon Harris: SUSI assesses grants under Student Grant Legislation set out by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. To be eligible for a grant, every applicant must fulfil the specific eligibility conditions of the Student Grant Scheme 2021 contained in articles 14 to 18 and must have a reckonable income within the limits and other requirements set out in...

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

Simon Harris: SUSI assesses grants under Student Grant Legislation set out by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. To be eligible for a grant, every applicant must fulfil the specific eligibility conditions of the Student Grant Scheme 2021 contained in articles 14 to 18 and must have a reckonable income within the limits and other requirements set out in...

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

Simon Harris: Significant progress is being made in realising the ambition for apprenticeship set out in the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025published in April last year. The further development and mainstreaming of apprenticeship in Ireland through the creation of a single unified apprenticeship system has a key role to play in meeting Ireland's skill needs in a manner that presents a valued...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for his well made and passionate points. The points made by the INTO are valid. I will convey the Deputy's views on the matter to the Minister, Deputy Foley. I am sure he has already done so. My Department stands ready to work with the Departments of Education and Health to increase the graduate supply. The other matters are for the Department of Education but I will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the question. My Department, the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and I are strongly committed to supporting the well-being of the population through the provision of graduates with the key competencies and skills to be effective in health and education workforces and to support a range of public services, including educational psychology. While colleges...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: Absolutely. The role of our Department is to provide, working with our sector, the capacity and pathways for graduates, as well courses and upskilling and reskilling across a range of public services. When the HSE and the Department of Health complete their work on their psychology review with the Department of Education, we stand ready to do more on this. The Deputy is entirely right....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this extremely important matter. Bystander training can be a crucial intervention to help educate people about sexual and domestic violence prevention. This type of training programme can highlight the danger of normalising abusive behaviour. It cultivates an understanding of people's capacity to intervene and it can provide learners with a safe environment...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. I will certainly familiarise myself with that American example. Much progress has been made by the higher education sector in recent years, as, quite frankly, it had to be made. We need to take these programmes out from behind the walls of the universities and make them more widely available across society. Professor Crowley has led in that regard. There has also been...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: The colleges and schools have been contacted. The first letter I wrote to university presidents when I took up this role was not about the important issue of future funding and the like but was about the whole issue of sexual harassment and consent. We wrote to every university president and requested that they put in place a plan for their institutions. We asked how each of the presidents...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: Perfect. I will give it my best shot. I agree with Deputy Conway-Walsh that all of us in the House should condemn anybody who attempts to price-gouge in the middle of a horrific illegal invasion and massive humanitarian crisis. I will talk to her in more detail about that. Deputy Murnane O'Connor is right that as we develop the technological universities, and there is one in the south...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue but also for the work he did in his time in the Department of Education to promote apprenticeships. It has helped us get to this place. As he will be aware, apprenticeship is a demand-driven, employer-led system that aims to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. In light of that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I do not disagree with the Deputy on the need for a much better and bigger job to be done on the central and public advertising of apprenticeship opportunities. That is part of the cultural shift that needs to take place. We have set up a National Apprenticeship Alliance and its job is to look at all of these areas. Now we as a State are providing financial incentives to all apprentice...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: To respond to Deputy Stanton, yes I have. Indeed, some of the changes we have brought to the CAO website have been things the guidance councillors have been campaigning for over a decade so they are very much driving this and I am eager to work very closely with them. Deputy Bruton is entirely right. The public sector needs to step up here. To be really clear, it has not done so. A...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I would be very interested in following up on the issue with the Deputy. I will ask my officials listening in to the debate to expect to hear from the Deputy on the matter. My very clear understanding in checking this out is that the higher or further education institutions determine the level of support provided, but they do not do it in a vacuum. They do it based on the needs assessment....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: The Deputy's question has been most useful in providing valuable insight through the information she has picked up. I will follow up on all three issues the Deputy has highlighted. On the specific matters raised in respect of insurance companies and the non-academic PA, I do not doubt what the Deputy said, because she has heard it from authoritative sources. However, it is very frustrating...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: The Government's Housing for All Plan contains a detailed and comprehensive series of actions to substantially increase supply of all types of housing and accommodation, including student accommodation. I think it is sometimes hard to decouple the issues that students face in relation to accommodation from the boarder housing issues. That is why I have referenced Housing for All. The plan...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I think there are four actions we need to take. The first is that we need to take a flexible local approach. We have said several times that we want to hear from any higher education institution in any part of the country that has a local solution. If there is something that can be done on campus or near campus, or if the institution has a building that can be converted into student...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (7 Jul 2022)

Simon Harris: I would be delighted to do so. I would be very happy to meet with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. If it is outlining the issue to the Deputy then it is definitely an issue I want to hear about and see how we can rectify it. Understandably there is a degree of flexibility and discretion around the student assistance programme because there has to be. This is not an excuse for a lack of...