Results 9,461-9,480 of 45,539 for speaker:Simon Harris

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mental Health Services (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I assure Deputy Tully my Department is committed to supporting the mental health of the population through the provision of graduates with the key competencies and skills required to be effective in the health workforce and to support a range of clinical teams, including the very important issue she highlights regarding supporting people with eating disorders. It is a fact that the number...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mental Health Services (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I fully agree with the Deputy. We are seeing a theme, and I say this in a constructive sense, in the parliamentary questions today, which is the delivery of public services. A number of Government strategies and the like commit to making improvements in very important areas, but will require us to produce more people to work and be trained in those areas. I will say two things,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mental Health Services (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for putting the spotlight on this very important issue. From my perspective as Minister, in the last three or four weeks I had a very good meeting with Bodywhys, the eating disorders organisation. We had a very important conversation about how we prepare our services and colleges for students returning to campus. We will come to questions about that shortly. We have...

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

Simon Harris: I cannot speak in regard to the banks, but I take the point the Deputy makes. It could well be a barrier for many people in accessing financial assistance. I can examine how we can provide greater financial assistance. I have already pointed out that the student assistance fund is a more immediate-term mechanism. The first of two other areas I want to examine is SUSI, in the context of...

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

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Collins for the question. 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 to support a range of clinical teams in our health services. My Department understands there is a long-standing arrangement in place under which the...

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

Simon Harris: I agree 100% with the Deputy. I was answering her specific question on how one matter she raised does not fall under the remit of my Department. That is not in any way shirking the broader issue. I want to assure the Deputy that one of the roles my Department is playing is engaging with the workforce planning sections of other relevant Departments. For example, we are in discussions...

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

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy. When she said that we need to map it out, she could not be more correct. If we want to implement things like Sláintecare or any Government strategy to improve public services, a major part of that conversation has to involve how many young and not so young people need to be trained to work in these areas. I agree with Deputy on that and there is a lot of work going...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (20 May 2021)

Simon Harris: I am delighted the Deputy has raised this issue. I note his interest in it. This is a major priority for me and the entire Government. The Cabinet committee on education recently had a discussion about this very matter. I have undertaken to do two things between now and September, in conjunction with a number of Government colleagues, in particular the Ministers of State, Deputies Josepha...

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

Simon Harris: First, we should not say we are standing over a system that we are not yet sure is as the Deputy describes. I agree that this is about every individual student and I do not intend to be in any way dismissive in relation to that. However, I also need to be conscious of anything that I do being legal, equitable and consistent with that approach of equity of access. For example, if I was to...

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...