Results 10,521-10,540 of 45,539 for speaker:Simon Harris

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...

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

Simon Harris: I do not have that comprehensive information available to me tonight but I will get more information for the Deputy on it. I would refer to an example that is in the public domain. It is in respect of Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin who I have met on two occasions and am in contact with. The way she was treated was absolutely disgraceful. To get to the core of the Deputy's...

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

Simon Harris: I will commit on the record to come back to Deputy Pringle on the figure of how many students from Northern Ireland are studying in the Republic. My own instinct is that it will be much higher than that. I wonder is it a designation issue or how people self-designate but I will ask the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and will revert to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Asylum Seekers (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: My answer will be much the same as the one I gave to Deputy Barry because the question is very similar and important. I say on the record of the House that it is not right and I am clear on that. What am I doing about it? The first thing we did was to make amendments in August to the student support scheme which was welcomed by the Irish Refugee Council. I do not see this as the end. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Asylum Seekers (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: I do not have the numbers for the specific question but I have a number that is interesting. The number of people who applied under the administrative student support scheme for asylum seekers this year is at 86, as of 12 October. That is more than have applied and have been successful in the past five years put together. Over the past five years the figure was 79, from 2015, 2016, 2017,...

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

Simon Harris: We already discussed an issue in an earlier question, and the Deputy has rightly differentiated the two issues, and have already discussed what we are doing as to on-campus accommodation. We have a clear obligation in that regard for universities to provide refunds and such flexible solutions. As to private providers, I urge all providers to be flexible in finding solutions given the...

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

Simon Harris: The Deputy raises an interesting point on the CRSS. This is well outside the remit of my Department but I will raise it with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, and will revert to the Deputy on this issue. My understanding is that businesses which cannot continue to operate or operate at restrictive levels can avail of this support. It is a fair point to ask if these landlords fit into...

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

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Lowry. I agree with him that a massive amount of work has been undertaken. I think more than 20 working groups are working across 30 different work packages to try to get to this point. I want to thank the project directors and the joint chairs from AIT and LIT for what have been years of work. It is up to them, but it is to be hoped that they will arrive at a point where...

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

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Lowry. I will undertake to keep him informed. To give him a sense of the scale of the transformation, my understanding is that under the new European universities initiatives the AIT and LIT consortium will join what is called RUN-EU which is a regional university network in the European Union. This is the way to create one of several new European universities capable of...

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

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this matter. There are two issues. I took the words "student assistance fund" from the question. In regard to the student assistance fund of €16 million, which is available in all colleges across the Republic of Ireland, I can confirm that students from Northern Ireland are eligible to apply for support under that scheme. The Deputy is familiar...

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

Simon Harris: I am delighted the Deputy asked me about that. I would be very pleased to meet him and other Deputies from Border counties, including Donegal. I have had a couple of really interesting meetings in recent days regarding North-South co-operation. I met the President of Queens University in his capacity as the president of Universities Ireland, which represents all the universities on the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (20 Oct 2020)

Simon Harris: It is important to note in relation to this issue that under the Free Fees Schemes the Exchequer currently makes a very substantial contribution amounting to €340m to meeting the tuition fee costs of eligible undergraduate Higher Education students with those students who are required to pay the student contribution paying €3,000 per annum towards the cost of their studies. ...