Results 841-860 of 10,554 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant, and the rate payable to applicants deemed eligible for that grant is a matter for SUSI to determine having regard to the terms and conditions of the Scheme. Under the terms of the student grant scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those which relate to nationality, residency,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Student Grant Scheme is a means-tested scheme. The numbers of students undertaking fully online programmes or micro-credentials who would meet the means tested criteria and other eligibility criteria for SUSI is not held by my Department and therefore I cannot provide an estimate as requested.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Student Grant Scheme is targeted at those students who are most in need of financial assistance and the Special Rate of grant is a key tool in targeting student grant assistance at the cohort of students who are most in need. The qualifying criteria for the special rate of maintenance grant in the 2024 Student Grant Scheme are as follows: (i) The student must qualify for the standard rate...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: 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. Each year a significant number of student grant applicants are assessed as either dependent students or independent students and awarded student supports on that basis. While SUSI has statistics on dependent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Period Poverty (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to “provide a range of free, adequate, safe, and suitable period products in all educational publicly funded settings (including schools, colleges and HEIs), to ensure that no students are disadvantaged in their education by period poverty." Included in those recommendations was the need to develop a co-ordinated approach to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: At present there are 13 courses across the higher education system which include digital forensics as a key focus. There are approximately 300 graduates from these programmes each year. Higher education institutions do not require my sanction to increase this provision. My Department is committed to engaging with industry representative bodies and Government Departments to support them in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Employment Rights (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy is aware, a student’s earning is taken into consideration over the year and is treated as income with the exception of earnings over holiday periods. Over the past few Budgets, the amount a student can earn during holiday periods (Easter, summer and Christmas) has increased. This amount has increased from €6,552 in the 2023/2024 academic year to €7,925 in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The challenge facing students in accessing appropriate student accommodation is an issue which Government and I are actively addressing under Housing for All.I am progressing a new policy to provide State assistance to stimulate the development of new student accommodation. The long term student accommodation policy was approved by Government in January. This includes measures for increasing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Living Wage (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The data needed to make the estimates requested by the Deputy are not held by my Department nor the agencies under its remit. Work placements are organised at the level of each individual Higher Education Institution (HEI), as part of their programme offerings to be delivered in conjunction with relevant placement providers. The type and duration of work placement required varies by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The main support available to students is the statutory based Student Grant Scheme. Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those which relate to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The decision on eligibility...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The new Student Accommodation Strategy will align with the long-term student accommodation policy and methodology which was approved by Government in January 2024. The aim of this policy is to increase the supply of student accommodation and to examine alternative solutions that will remove accommodation as a barrier to higher education through: Increasing the supply of student accommodation...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy is aware, a student’s earning is taken into consideration over the year and is treated as income with the exception of earnings over holiday periods. Over the past few Budgets, the amount a student can earn during holiday periods (Easter, summer and Christmas) has increased. This amount has increased from €6,552 in the 2023/2024 academic year to €7,925 in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The main support available to students is the statutory based Student Grant Scheme. The Scheme provides for fee and maintenance grants to all students who meet the qualifying criteria such as means, residency, nationality and progression. The Student Grant Scheme provides funding for students undertaking approved Post Leaving Certificate Courses, Undergraduate Courses and Postgraduate...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2652 and 2653 together. I thank the Deputy for raising matters in relation to the cost of providing additional supports for postgraduate students. The Deputy will be aware that there are supports available to eligible students undertaking postgraduate study under the student grant scheme. Details of these postgraduate grant supports are available at: Higher...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As part of the Government's Budget 2024 cost of living measures, Post Graduate Students who met the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution Grant benefited from a once off increase in this grant of €1,000 from €4,000 to €5,000 during the 2023/24 academic year. Maintenance grants for all postgraduate students are being re-introduced from September 2024 for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The information requested by the Deputy is not available at a county or post-code level. The Department of Education publishes the transition rate from post-primary to third level on a national level as part of it's annual "Education Indicators for Ireland" report. The transition rate from post-primary to higher education in a given year is a measure of the percentage of students from the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The information requested by the Deputy is being compiled by City of Dublin ETB, Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB, Technological University Dublin and SOLAS and answer will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (11 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: This Department's priority is to ensure that the apprenticeship system is agile and responsive to the requirements of industry. Currently there are 75 national apprenticeship programmes available between NFQ levels 5 and 10. This is up from 53 national programmes in 2019, representing a very big increase in choice for learners and employers alike. Consortia-led apprenticeship...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (11 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 423 and 424 together. The enrolment data requested by the Deputy is contained in the attached spreadsheet. This data was sourced from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) Student Records System (SRS) and is rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes. The enrolment data for the academic year 2023/2024 is not yet available from the HEA as they...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (11 Jul 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 425 and 426 together. The enrolment data requested by the Deputy is contained in the attached spreadsheet. This data was sourced from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) Student Records System (SRS) and is rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes. The enrolment data for the academic year 2023/2024 is not yet available from the HEA as they...