Results 9,441-9,460 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: That is a fair question. At present, we are monitoring it on a weekly basis. The figure I gave the House of 28,500 applications having been assessed and 26,000 being deemed eligible is a very high rate of eligibility for SUSI so far which reflects the reality we will see this year that most households' incomes are gone down and not up. This idea - the Deputy is not putting it forward -...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Admissions (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I am grateful to the Deputy for bringing this up because it is an issue I have been engaging on quite a bit. I have met a number of students, either studying medicine as graduate entrants or considering doing that. I am concerned because the argument they would put forward to me is that there is benefit both to the health service and to them as future doctors in having undertaken a degree,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Admissions (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: As a former Minister for Health, I think diversity in terms of the backgrounds of our healthcare professionals, particularly our medical professionals, is a good thing and would assist in the delivery of health services as well. What are we doing in relation to this? The first thing I said to the Deputy is we are already providing a direct subsidy of fees for graduate-entry medicine in a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I am very proud that we live in a country where we have provided such significant income support to all people who lost jobs, including students. Some of the commentary, certainly not from Deputy Conway-Walsh but from some elements in recent weeks and months, suggesting it was inappropriate and that students should not be claiming the pandemic unemployment payment shows a huge lack of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: So far, what we are seeing is a significant number of applicants being granted the SUSI grants. We are monitoring this on a weekly basis and we will continue to monitor it. I will reflect on the point the Deputy has made on the holiday earnings disregard. There may be something in it should the need arise as we see the system develop. We have to have a consistency of approach in terms of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I am satisfied, without getting into the individual case as I do not have all of the details, that the legislation and regulations allow for a change of circumstance where students or families were receiving, to use the Deputy's phrase, an exceptional payment for a period of time during the pandemic and, due to work resuming or changes, they are no longer receiving that payment. They need to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputies Ó Ríordáin and Nash for the question. As Deputy Ó Ríordáin said, it gives me an opportunity to expand further on the previous question. There is a holiday earnings disregard under SUSI of €4,500 in respect of income earned by students outside of term time, for example, the summer period and the Christmas season. Importantly, this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: Inclusion is one of the core strategic goals for my Department, and my ambition is to ensure that we provide supports and opportunities for learning to all, recognising the needs of vulnerable learners and the most marginalised, and to assist people in access to and progression through higher and further education and training. Considerable progress has been made in recent years in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: The IT Carlow Wexford campus has been in operation since 1995 and it is planned that it will become a campus of the future Technological University for the South East. The campus has grown to accommodate 1,000 learners across disciplines including agriculture, business, education, social care, tourism and event management, art and design. There are 27 full-time staff and 61 part-time...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I am very conscious of the many challenges faced by students this year, including in relation to student accommodation. Following significant rent increases in some privately run purpose built student accommodation complexes in 2018, the Department of Education and Skills worked in close cooperation with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to support the enactment of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: Inclusion is one of the core strategic goals for my Department, and my ambition is to ensure that we provide supports and opportunities for learning to all. This means recognising the needs of vulnerable learners, the most marginalised and those with special and additional needs, and assisting people in accessing and progressing through higher and further education and training. There is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Mental Health Services (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: The mental health and wellbeing of our students is one of my priorities particularly against the backdrop of the intensified stresses and pressures impacting on our students arising from their experiences in seeking to pursue their studies primarily on an online basis during the pandemic. In 2020, I secured a comprehensive package of financial supports from Government for the higher...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: My Department is strongly committed to supporting the mental health of the population through the provision of graduates with the key competencies and skills to be effective in the health workforce, and support a range of clinical teams in our health services. My Department understands there is a longstanding arrangement in place under which the HSE, and indeed former Health Boards,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: Under the statutory framework detailed in the Technological Universities Act 2018, it is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant Institutes of Technology participating in a TU development consortium to progress their plans and, when ready, to make an application to the Minister seeking the making of an order establishing a TU. On 30 April 2021 I received such an application...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: At the outset, I am determined that all students and learners are provided with the opportunities to acquire and develop the skills that allow them reach their potential in a way that meets the very broad and rapidly changing needs of our labour force, the economy and society. My objective is, therefore, to ensure that there is access into either further or higher education for each person...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I am strongly committed to the promotion of collaboration between further and higher education institutions, North and South, and this is a major agenda on the strategic work programme of my Department, as set out in our recently published Statement of Strategy. Both the New Decade, New Approach Agreement and the Programme for Government have been very clear on the importance of enhanced...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: There are a number of important statutory and administrative procedures to be completed as part of the process leading to the establishment of the new technological university (TU) made up of AIT and LIT. These include the approval of an order under section 36 of the Technological Universities Act 2018 by the Houses of the Oireachtas and the appointment of the first governing body of the new...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: In accordance with section 36 of the Technological Universities Act 2018, I am required to make an order appointing a day for the dissolution of Athlone and Limerick ITs and for the establishment of the new TU following my granting of the joint application of the two applicant institutes seeking the making of such an order. The order, the draft of which must be approved by a resolution...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: The Student Grant Scheme and Student Support Regulations for the 2021/22 academic year were published on 31 March 2021 and SUSI’s online application process is now open for new and renewal applications. The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for SUSI to determine. For the 2021/22 academic year, student grant applications will be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: The mental health and wellbeing of our students is one of my priorities particularly against the backdrop of the intensified stresses and pressures impacting on our students arising from their experiences in seeking to pursue their studies primarily on an online basis during the pandemic. I appreciate this is a time of considerable stress and concern for third level students, but students...