Results 11,121-11,140 of 47,419 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Harris: While Ireland is operating on the Plan for Living with COVID all further and higher education institutions delivered the majority of their classes online with only essential activities held on site. I are keenly aware and appreciate that the COVID impacts and activities are disappointing for students who had hoped to have as much time on campus as possible, these measures are necessary to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (1 Jul 2021)

Simon Harris: The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has a Recurrent Grant Allocation Model (RGAM) which allocates core recurrent funding to institutions. The grant is allocated as a block recurrent grant and the internal allocation of this grant is a matter for each institution. In the case of nursing students, State grant and fees are paid separately from ring-fenced Nursing funding (i.e. nursing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (30 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 169 together. The Deputy will be aware that there are various income thresholds used depending on the type of grant, family size etc. While SUSI has statistics on those students who have applied for grant support and can estimate with some degree of certainty, what impact changes to the thresholds might have for those students on lower income levels,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Training Fund (30 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: The National Training Fund (NTF) Act, 2000 provides for a levy on employers to be used to fund the development of and raising of skills amongst those in, or seeking, employment. The projected reserve surplus of the NTF by 2025 if expenditure remained stable is €1.4 billion, and €1.9 billion excluding Covid emergency spending. See tables below for further detail. Table 1 –...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (30 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: The Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme comprises a €2,000 payment when employers register a new apprentice, followed by an additional €1,000 payment one year later where that apprentice is retained. The scheme was initially approved under the July Jobs Stimulus and extended in Budget 2021 for apprentices registering between March 2020 and June 2021. The Minister announced...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (30 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: The Department is working with the higher education sector and student representative bodies to develop a protocol with key principles of assurance to ensure that the arrival of international students for the coming academic year is managed safely and in line with public health requirements. This protocol will include all up-to-date public health measures and, in addition, will detail...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: The main support available to students is the statutory based Student Grant Scheme where students are studying for the first time or are progressing to study at a higher level. The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine. Postgraduate students...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 403 and 404 together. The development and progression of technological universities (TUs) is an established policy objective of Government in the context of overarching national strategy on higher education landscape restructuring and this is underscored in the commitment in the current Programme for Government. Under the statutory framework provided in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Visas (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: Outward international travel by students is subject to the same guidelines covering travel as generally apply. These are set out on the Government's website at: . In general, matters relating to healthcare, including entitlements of EU nationals to healthcare in another Member State, and the vaccination programme are matters for the Minister for Health.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: The SUSI Stakeholder Desk is a service provided by SUSI to respond to queries and representations made on behalf of students by third party advocates including Oireachtas members, student union representatives, guidance counsellors, citizens information staff and college access personnel. The Stakeholder Desk provides dedicated phone and e-mail access to the central SUSI administration where...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Oideachas Tríú Leibhéal (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to HEA designated higher education institutions. The HEA allocates this funding to the institutions via the recurrent funding model. The HEA has approved an earmarked allocation of €1,766,000 to NUI Galway (from the B4 recurrent allocation) for Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: Almost 101,000 applications were received by SUSI for grant support in the 2020/21 academic year. Just over 79,000 applicants were assessed as eligible for grant support with projected total costs of €370 million. Applications for the 2021/2022 academic year are open and to date, we have received over 69,000 applications. Over 41,500 have been approved for grant support. In...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: The student grant scheme, administered by SUSI, provides maintenance grants to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The decision on eligibility for student grant assistance is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: As the Deputy is aware, Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 requires a public body to assess, address and report onthe human rights and equality issues it believes to be relevant to the functions and purpose of the body. The requirements to Assess and Address have been dealt with under the Department’s Statement of Strategy. These are dealt with under...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disabilities Assessments (29 Jun 2021)

Simon Harris: All substantive Memoranda for Government are required to identify, under a disability impact assessment, any difficulties or barriers that may exist or arise within a service delivery, policy or process that prevents someone with a disability from availing of that service, policy or process. The disability impact assessment is undertaken in line with the procedures outlined in guidelines,...