Results 1-20 of 2,256 for at speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts (15 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: My Department has not awarded any publicly funded contracts to the company referenced by the Deputy at any time since the creation of the Department in 2020.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (14 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy may be aware, the main support available to students is the statutory based Student Grant Scheme. Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Strategies (14 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Promoting the importance of lifelong learning has been a key focus for my Department which has been demonstrated in the approach we have been taking since its establishment three years ago, putting skills at the centre of policy development, raising awareness of the importance of skills, and creating and highlighting multiple re-skilling and upskilling initiatives and learning opportunities...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Strategies (14 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Green Skills are essential for meeting the ambitious climate targets set out by the Government in the Climate Action Plan and for the Green Transition. These range from the development of transferable green skills for life, through specific skills requirements for emerging green sectors of the economy including offshore wind and other renewable energy initiatives, electric vehicles and Near...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (14 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: My Department has been made aware that the college referred to by the Deputy will close and cease to deliver degree level programmes accredited by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) with effect from September 2024. In preparation for the forthcoming closure the college has engaged with QQI’s statutory Protection of Enrolled Learners (PEL) process. The PEL process ensures that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (14 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: There is no conclusive reported data to support that rationale for students choosing college courses but I am conscious that accommodation is a significant factor for students who need to reside away from home to access higher education. The challenge for students in accessing appropriate student accommodation is an issue which Government and I are acutely aware and actively pursuing....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Advertising (14 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: My Department works with a Government procured media buying agency to ensure we get the best reach and value for money for our information campaigns. The Department's Advertising spend from 2019 to 2023 is detailed in the table at the link, with a breakdown for local and national print included.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (14 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The attached table sets out apprentice registration by ETB for each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023. As requested the numbers are split between Craft and Consortia. A total apprentice registration is also provided, along with an annual total for each of the years for convenience. A key for each ETB code can be found on page 2 of the attachment at the link.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (9 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy may be aware, the main support available to assist students with the cost of attending higher education is the Student Grant Scheme. Under the Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved full-time course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Energy Conservation (8 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Near Zero Energy Building/ Retrofit training is an important step in meeting the Government’s ambitious target to retrofit 500,000 homes to BER B2 standards by 2030 as set out in the National Retrofit Plan. The development of a national suite of NZEB Centres of Excellence is key to providing workers with the skills and knowledge required to reach this goal. Six centres are currently...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Inquiries (8 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 652, 653 and 654 together. The former national high-performance computer (HPC) - “Kay” - hosted by the Irish Centre for High End Computing (ICHEC) under the auspices of University Galway reached its end of life in November 2023. In the years leading to this event, my Department worked closely with both University Galway and ICHEC for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (8 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy may be aware, the objective of the statutory based student grant scheme is to provide additional assistance where parental income is below a certain threshold or, in the case of independent mature students, where the level of income of the student and his or her spouse warrants additional assistance by way of a grant. For student grants purposes, students are categorised...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Research and Development (8 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 662 and 663 together. As part of my Department’s whole of government strategic approach to drive research and innovation (Impact 2030), DFHERIS directly manages some of Ireland's EU and other international research partnerships. This is not the case with European Research Infrastructure Consortium’s (ERICs) – such as EATRIS, as it...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (2 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Erasmus+ Programme promotes and funds Green Travel which is defined in the programme guide as “Travel that uses low-emissions means of transport for the main part of the travel, such as bus, train, bike or car-pooling.” In this definition, ferries are not considered to be more green than air travel. Irish participants of the programme are encouraged to prioritise green...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Broadband Infrastructure (30 Apr 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Department's communications infrastructure is provided and managed by the Department of Education as part of a shared service agreement. The Department of Education currently has 11 ISDN/PSTN lines and 42 DSL lines. The lines are predominantly in use by the Department's regional offices. The necessity for PSTN/ISDN and DSL technology is mainly due to the unavailability of fibre...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Ukraine War (30 Apr 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: ...(BOTPs) are aligned with those available to Irish citizens, my Department, in common with all other Departments, is currently reviewing supports delivered in the context of Further and Higher Education. I anticipate that the outcome of this process will be concluded shortly, and updates will be communicated though the Government website at www.gov.ie/ Migration and Ireland

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Examinations (30 Apr 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The HPAT is independently administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) on behalf of the universities’ medical schools and the RCSI. The selection criteria and process for admission to medical schools is a matter for those institutions in line with their statutory autonomy in relation to academic affairs. Neither the Minister nor the Department has a function...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (24 Apr 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: This Government is committed to removing accommodation as a barrier to education. In November 2022, the Government approved the development of both a short and long term policy responses to increase the supply of student accommodation. In the short term, as part of this response, Government supported the activation of student accommodation projects in our Universities with planning...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (24 Apr 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is not possible to provide the requested information on a county-by-county basis. The information is available by Education and Training Board (ETB). Therefore, the following information is for Louth & Meath ETB (LMETB), which operates in the Louth and Meath. However, its catchment area may extend beyond these counties. The list of apprenticeship programmes currently available...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (24 Apr 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As of the end of March 2024 there are 73 national apprenticeships available, offering a qualification between NFQ level 5 and NFQ level 10. This compares to 73 apprenticeships available in 2023 and 68 apprenticeships available in 2022. The list of apprenticeship courses that were available in each of the years 2022 and 2023 are provided in tabular form below, along with the list of...