Results 61-80 of 7,020 for speaker:James Lawless

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (21 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: Details of the funding allocation to QQI for 2024 and 2025 is available under the Revised Estimates Volume voted by the Oireachtas. I include a link to this information for your convenience: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-public-expenditure-infrastructur e-public-service-reform-and-digitalisation/collections/the-r evised-estimates-volumes-for-the-public-service/. The funding allocation for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (21 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: The Department of Education and Youth provides an ICT shared service to my department. All staff working within the ICT unit are employed by the Department of Education and Youth (DoY). Consequently, there are no application specialists at the HEO grade employed directly by my department.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (21 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: Supported by significant government investment, annual apprenticeship registrations have grown strongly in recent years from 6,177 in 2019 to 9,352 in 2024. This 51% increase provides a strong foundation for achieving the target of 12,500 annual apprentice registrations by the end of 2030. Year to date to September of this year, there have been 6,676 apprenticeship registrations. It should...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (21 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: The apprenticeship system takes a demand-led, employer-driven approach to meeting workforce and skill requirements in our economy. As such, the demand for and number of apprentices is significantly influenced by employers in any given sector. The Government remains firmly committed to apprenticeships and has significantly expanded opportunities for learners in recent years, recognising their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (21 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I propose to take Questions Nos. 906 and 907 together. The Government is strongly committed to growing and strengthening Ireland’s apprenticeship system, as set out in the Programme for Government and the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021–2025. This commitment is already delivering results: supported by sustained investment, the system has seen significant growth in recent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (21 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: Annual apprenticeship registrations have grown strongly in recent years, increasing from 5,326 in 2020 to 9,352 in 2024. This growth has been supported by significant government investment in apprenticeship delivery since my department was formed in 2020. To ensure an adequate pipeline of skilled apprentices to support government targets on housing and infrastructure development, an...

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Referral to Select Committee (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science pursuant to Standing Orders 103(2)(b) and 188(1).

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Minister of State for dealing comprehensively with a number of issues. I will take up any remaining issues. I thank Sinn Féin for its support for the Bill and engage with the comments its Members made. There is a funding deficit in the university sector that was well called out in the Cassells report and again in 2022 in the Funding the Future report, which built on that....

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: We interact every week.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: A regular correspondence.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I look forward to it too.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: As will I.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House and present the National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill. This Bill, as is evident from its Title, amends the National Training Fund Act 2000. The National Training Fund, NTF, was established by the National Training Fund Act 2000 as a dedicated fund to raise the skills of those...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. I am conscious of the cost pressures on students who must pay for student accommodation or those who commute. Some may decide to commute instead and that is equally arduous because of the costs and time associated with that. The grant scheme recognised this by increasing the amounts available this year for non-adjacent students. In recent times, the non-adjacency...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy makes an interesting point. The income thresholds have increased this year to €120,000 so Members of the Oireachtas would qualify for SUSI support, which I think may be a first. It is at a significant level and it has certainly gone beyond those who may be at risk of poverty or are on lower incomes. They rightly receive more support but up to €120,000, families are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy is right; the cost will increase. The non-adjacent grant is greater for that reason. A student will receive more significant support if they live farther away from the college and it begins to taper down the closer they live to the college to reflect the fact they may not require accommodation or that their transport costs may be less if they live adjacent to the college. All...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. The first phase of the previous strategy set a target of 7,000 units and 8,000 were delivered, 1,000 above target. Of the second much more ambitious figure of 54,000 units, 49,000 were achieved, which is 91% of the target, at a time of Ukraine, Covid, Brexit and the supply chain crisis. That is a reasonably good foundation on which to build. I am not happy with service...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: This is something I am very aware of and very keen to make progress on. It is multi-faceted; it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. My immediate and short-term focus has been on enabling stalled projects to proceed by tackling the viability issues. The €100 million in the short-term activation programme has been put aside for this purpose. Under that programme, some beds are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: That is very much the plan and what will be contained in the new strategy when we put all the bits of the jigsaw together and launch it. That will then guide everybody from local authorities to people in construction to the different higher education institutions to progress. The actions in the last plan have progressed. That is why the €100 million in the short-term activation...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: That is not quite the question the Deputy asked but I will answer. The question she asked concerned the cost of third level fees. My Department provides significant funding for tuition fee supports for students every year, including funding under the free fees initiative, which are sometimes referred to as tuition fees. Every undergraduate student in the State, bar certain exceptions such...