Results 10,481-10,500 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (21 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: It has been a significant priority for me, in the context of the shift to online teaching and learning that has arisen from the public health restrictions, to provide support to students to facilitate connectivity and to examine options designed to seek to minimise the extent to which connectivity challenges act as a barrier to full participation in higher and further education. In this...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Support Schemes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I am the Minister with responsibility for higher education and believe that providing everybody with an opportunity to access higher education is a good thing. I believe there is a societal and economic good and that is where we should be trying to get to. Obviously, I have to fit my Department's work into a broader piece of work that needs to be done and was being done previously by the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Support Schemes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: The Deputy makes a fair point. It is one of the reasons I very much welcome the fact that, on the advice of public health, we can keep access to college libraries and the likes open, albeit on a scheduled and organised basis, because there may be some students in this country who decide they would rather remain in accommodation they have organised near the campus and continue to access those...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Support Schemes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I will check that issue and revert to the Deputy on it. Among the potential sites for the proposed pilots to which I referred a moment ago are broadband connection points, public libraries, museums, municipal buildings, public transport, airports, some of which are already being availed of in that regard, and public areas. In other words, we should try to light up anywhere that is within...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Support Schemes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: Their institution is the first port of call, probably the access office. I am pleased that the public health advice allows us not to return to the situation that pertained for higher education in March. Education will overwhelmingly be done online, and there is no disputing that, but we have a flexibility in terms of vulnerable learners and people who may have issues accessing or learning...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Technological Universities (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and for the conversations we have had on it recently. I know the Deputy sees the benefit of the technological universities, as do I, not just from an educational point of view, which is massive, but also from the points of view of regional development and job creation. I already know there are companies in the Deputy's region that cite the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I agree with the Deputy that, in particular when it comes to things like mental health and well-being, we need to be really aware of these things. We need to support them and invest more in them and that is what we are doing. I also hope she will agree with me that we need to learn from the mistakes other jurisdictions have made where large numbers of students returned to campus and we saw...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Support Schemes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Barry for this question. This is an area I have taken an interest in since taking up office. The fee payable by a student varies depending on a variety of factors, including the type of course and the student's access route, including previous education. The Department of Justice and Equality adjudicates on a person's entitlements to remain in the State and on the stamp that...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Support Schemes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I will comment on it very clearly. I do not think it is fair or right and I want to fix it. My views on this are clear. I know one of the students the Deputy speaks of. It is the well-known case of Eric, the boy from Bray who some Department official thought it was a good idea to send him back of China. Eric had never been to China. He is as Irish as the rest of us but he was caught in...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I am conscious of the challenges faced by students regarding student accommodation this year due to both financial pressures and the blended learning format of the 2020-21 academic year, which Deputy Conway-Walsh rightly mentioned. Responding to these issues is a significant matter of concern for me and my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, and we are...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I want university-owned accommodation fees to be refunded where students cannot use the accommodation, or at least fair solutions to be found. I have said that in crystal clear language to representative bodies on a number of occasions. I have also said it in the presence of Union of Students in Ireland, USI, representatives. It is my position and that of the Government and I expect it to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 492 together. One of the reasons my Department was established was to recognise that there needs to be an interface between the education system at higher education level and industry regional skills fora. Education has a massive value above and beyond economic, of that there is no doubt, but we also need to have a robust higher education system to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I am, but we can only manage to maintain our competitiveness if we do not stand still and do not get complacent or too comfortable in terms of where we stand. We have seen great progress in Ireland over the last decade or so. Recent figures from the CSO Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2018 highlighted that Ireland has the highest rate of STEM graduates at 3.2% of population aged 20-29....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: They are in addition. The intention is that the total number, between the July stimulus and the budget, should be 50,000.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I agree with the Deputy.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Assistance Fund (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 117, 483, 484 and 503 together. I announced on budget day the intention to have a full review of SUSI, which the Deputy has been calling for. It will start this year and conclude next summer. It is badly needed so we can plan in advance of the next budget what student supports need to look like now. SUSI has worked pretty well as a scheme but equally I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Assistance Fund (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I acknowledge that. How to do it in a sustainable manner is a question all of us in this House will have to face up to. This is not a partisan comment but I do believe there has been a generation of political cowardice in regard to the question of a sustainable funding model for higher education. We have the Cassells report. The previous Oireachtas, on an all-party basis, asked for an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: While I agree with much of the sentiment of what the Deputy has said, how we make these things happen is the challenge we have in Government. We have tried to take all of the actions we can take that are at our disposal in terms of how we financially support students and their families, recognising that this has been a year of extraordinary challenge and one no student could have imagined....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bullying in Educational Institutions (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Durkan for the question. I am greatly concerned by the issues of both sexual harassment and bullying that have emerged in respect of both staff and students within higher education institutions.   Our higher education institutions, HEIs, should be and must be a place of inclusivity, tolerance, respect and quality. Our higher education institutions have a duty of care...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Bullying in Educational Institutions (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I do not think any one of us can be surprised that in any workplace in any environment bullying and harassment can take place but to be honest I am surprised, and I do not consider myself as having lived under a rock, at the scale and amount of it I am hearing, particularly when it comes to sexual harassment and violence. I have convened the national advisory group, chaired by the National...