Results 1-20 of 6,887 for speaker:James Lawless

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Referral to Select Committee (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science pursuant to Standing Orders 103(2)(b) and 188(1).

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Minister of State for dealing comprehensively with a number of issues. I will take up any remaining issues. I thank Sinn Féin for its support for the Bill and engage with the comments its Members made. There is a funding deficit in the university sector that was well called out in the Cassells report and again in 2022 in the Funding the Future report, which built on that....

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: We interact every week.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: A regular correspondence.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I look forward to it too.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: As will I.

National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House and present the National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill. This Bill, as is evident from its Title, amends the National Training Fund Act 2000. The National Training Fund, NTF, was established by the National Training Fund Act 2000 as a dedicated fund to raise the skills of those...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. I am conscious of the cost pressures on students who must pay for student accommodation or those who commute. Some may decide to commute instead and that is equally arduous because of the costs and time associated with that. The grant scheme recognised this by increasing the amounts available this year for non-adjacent students. In recent times, the non-adjacency...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy makes an interesting point. The income thresholds have increased this year to €120,000 so Members of the Oireachtas would qualify for SUSI support, which I think may be a first. It is at a significant level and it has certainly gone beyond those who may be at risk of poverty or are on lower incomes. They rightly receive more support but up to €120,000, families are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Grant Payments (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: The Deputy is right; the cost will increase. The non-adjacent grant is greater for that reason. A student will receive more significant support if they live farther away from the college and it begins to taper down the closer they live to the college to reflect the fact they may not require accommodation or that their transport costs may be less if they live adjacent to the college. All...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. The first phase of the previous strategy set a target of 7,000 units and 8,000 were delivered, 1,000 above target. Of the second much more ambitious figure of 54,000 units, 49,000 were achieved, which is 91% of the target, at a time of Ukraine, Covid, Brexit and the supply chain crisis. That is a reasonably good foundation on which to build. I am not happy with service...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: This is something I am very aware of and very keen to make progress on. It is multi-faceted; it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. My immediate and short-term focus has been on enabling stalled projects to proceed by tackling the viability issues. The €100 million in the short-term activation programme has been put aside for this purpose. Under that programme, some beds are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Student Accommodation (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: That is very much the plan and what will be contained in the new strategy when we put all the bits of the jigsaw together and launch it. That will then guide everybody from local authorities to people in construction to the different higher education institutions to progress. The actions in the last plan have progressed. That is why the €100 million in the short-term activation...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: That is not quite the question the Deputy asked but I will answer. The question she asked concerned the cost of third level fees. My Department provides significant funding for tuition fee supports for students every year, including funding under the free fees initiative, which are sometimes referred to as tuition fees. Every undergraduate student in the State, bar certain exceptions such...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: Everything comes out of people's pockets because State resources are taxpayers' money and we all have to have respect for and be judicious in how we spend them. I am always very careful how I spend taxpayers' money which comes out of their hard-earned pay packets. It is important that we do this in a way that is socially just, progressive and targeted, and gets the most support to those who...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Fees (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: Again, it is about choices. It is about managing with limited resources to provide the most support in a targeted and progressive way. I am confident that I have achieved that as best as I can this year with the resources available to me through a universal cut to the student contribution fee. I appreciate that it is more than students paid last year. I get that because they had a voucher...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Research and Development (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I absolutely agree this is part of the response to the challenges posed by the changing trade and tariff situation. We are entering an age of deglobalisation. We also have many other factors to contend with. It is important we maintain that industrial base and that knowledge economy we fought so hard to develop over the past 30 or 40 years. The key to that is the knowledge economy and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: The 16 ETBs are the backbone of further education and training, FET, context in local communities. They were established under the Education and Training Board Act 2013 and are funded and overseen by SOLAS, the further education and training authority, which is funded by my Department. The ETBs play a critical role in supporting inclusion, community involvement, outreach, developing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: I fully agree with Deputy Timmins. There are a couple of ways to look at this. The promotion of further education options and apprenticeships is really important. We have a job of work to do as a country and a society in persuading people of that and advocating for it. I make the argument every day that apprenticeships and further education in general should never be seen as second best...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (16 Oct 2025)

James Lawless: There is a lot there. If I do not get to it all in 60 seconds, I will come back to Deputy Timmins. ETBs provide a very valuable role across a number of areas and a number of goals. I never regard an educational course as a tick box. The pursuit of knowledge is a public good. Whether someone is in the labour force, is unemployed or has disabilities, it is always a benefit to the...