Results 1,281-1,300 of 10,778 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I agree with the Deputy. One of the statistics that bears testimony to what he is saying is that in a very short period, the budget for FET has grown from €5 million to €65 million. This comes from the creation of the Department, which was a commitment in the programme for Government. Let us be realistic, when all of this was part of the remit of the Department of Education,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy will be aware, the rent-a-room scheme is under the remit of the Minister for Finance, my colleague Deputy McGrath. However, I acknowledge that my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are the main users of the scheme. Therefore, I am very conscious of the need to safeguard our students in digs accommodations, which are typically more informal...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: No. The Department will consider and will have regard to absolutely everything. One of the things we do not want to do, by virtue of the introduction of any measure, is for people are already participating in the scheme to feel threatened. In many cases these are retired people and will have to make a declaration of interests. I stayed in digs myself when I was in college and the person I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Again, this is a matter in the first instance for the Minister for housing. I am sure there are very good elements in the Deputy's Bill and I am not saying there are not. I understand what the Deputy is saying. However, I would caution against the kind of narrative - I am not suggesting for one minute that Deputy Farrell is saying it - that digs are somehow a last resort. They should not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for raising matters on the cost of supporting students and higher education tuition fees. As the Deputy will be aware and will appreciate, at this time it is not possible to provide an indication of the measures that may be introduced in budget 2025. However, in advance of budget 2025, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out the various...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Strong demand for craft apprenticeships, which is a good thing, reflecting a very buoyant construction sector, has resulted in a 25% increase in craft apprenticeship registrations since 2019. My Department is overseeing the implementation of a plan put in place by the National Apprenticeship Office which has, to date, nearly halved the number of craft apprentices waiting more than six...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I agree with an awful lot of what the Deputy said, having grown up in a house where we always had craft apprentices related to the construction sector. When the wheels came off the wagon in this country in 2008 and 2010 to 2011, we did not have the certainty to provide a great many of these young women and young men with gainful employment. People who would ordinarily have gone into this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I think the Deputy needs to take solace and comfort from the fact that a substantial amount of additional money, €67 million, was put into this in the previous budget. One of the identifiers is the number of additional tutors now working in this area who were not working in it previously and whom we need to sign off people in order that they can become skilled craftspersons in their...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As well as that, they are working to get people into the programmes. There is no point in saying, "If you are saying you are going to build 35,000 houses, I will build 65,000", without a plan as to how to get young people into apprenticeships.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Visas (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I know Deputy Gannon has been in touch with my office with regard to a particular issue. In recent weeks I have not been available-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Visas (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: -----but my office will gladly meet him with regard to the specific issue he has. I thank Deputy Gannon for raising this question. To be eligible to apply for a student grant, you must be an Irish, EU, EEA, UK or Swiss national or you must have one of the permissions to remain provided by the Minister for Justice, which are listed in the Student Support Act 2011 and the Student Support...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Visas (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Yes.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Visas (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is fine. I will arrange that. As a more substantive reply, I will be meeting the Minister, Deputy McEntee, on this issue as well. As Deputy Gannon knows, the stamps relate primarily to the Department of Justice, but my office will arrange that meeting.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank Deputy Farrell for her kind wishes. Last month, the Taoiseach and I announced the capital investment of €100 million from the national development plan windfall allocation for the delivery of student accommodation projects. This enables the activation of phase 1 of UCD's 493-bed project and the progression of the Maynooth 116-bed project to the construction stage and the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy very much for that ringing endorsement. I am delighted. What I would say is that a substantial amount of progress has been made in this area in recent years, and that needs to be recognised. This is an interdepartmental process and we must include my colleagues, the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, in the Department of Finance, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I remind the Deputy that in budget 2024, the rent tax credit was increased to €750.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: In budget 2023, it was also increased. The technological universities element the Deputy referred to is a new area for them. Being able to borrow is a new area for them. In addition, the creation of large-scale capital projects of this nature is also going to be a new area for them. Since I was appointed to this Department, having come from an infrastructure Department, I have been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Employment Rights (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: In November 2022, Dr Andrea Johnson and Mr David Cagney were appointed to undertake an independent National Review of State Supports for PhD Researchers. This is the first time that State supports for PhD students have been considered holistically in this manner. During their exercise they met with over 35 stakeholder organisations, including an all-day workshop with student groups, and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: There are well established routes from further to higher education, providing opportunities for further education and training learners to continue on with their studies if that is what they wish. The Higher Education Links Scheme gives learners the opportunity to use their QQI Level 5 or 6 major award to apply, through the CAO, for a place in the first year of a higher education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Deputy will be aware that over the course of 2023, Cavan Monaghan ETB (CMETB) was supported by SOLAS in developing its' Preliminary Business Case (PBC) proposal for Cavan town under the FET College of the Future Major Projects fund. The development of a robust PBC is fundamental to the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines. The Cavan town proposal is one of twelve FET College...