Results 61-80 of 953,493 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:David Stanton) in 'Committee meetings'

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Third Level Education

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: 110. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the National Access Plan 2022-2028; the progress that has been made to date since the plan was implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59856/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: This question is to ask the Minister if he will provide an update on the National Access Plan 2022-2028, the progress made to date since the plan was implemented and if he will make a statement on this matter.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I was pleased to launch the new national access plan on 31 August 2022. This plan is genuinely the most ambitious vision we have ever set out for an inclusive and diverse higher education sector. It builds on the real and substantial progress made through the implementation of previous plans. I thank all those who worked so hard to make this a reality. It also recognises, however, that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Colm Burke: Regarding socially disadvantaged areas, looking at the work done in the past ten to 15 years, have we identified why we have made very little progress in many of these areas? Do we need to focus at an earlier stage, and I am even talking about primary-school level, on starting people off on the process of long-term ambition in education? Are we doing enough in this regard to encourage...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is entirely right. Issues around access and disadvantage start much earlier than when people reach the age to attend third level. This is why the national access and inclusion plan engages with other Departments, including the Departments of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Education and Social Protection to look at barriers that people can encounter earlier...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: They are not the only ones. I thank Deputies Ó Murchú and O'Dowd for raising this important issue. Without wanting to stray into the industrial relations, IR, space because of the proximity between this discussion and those discussions that will take place at the IR forum, I acknowledge on the record of the Dáil the excellent work done by personal assistants, PAs. Those are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (1 Dec 2022)

Questions Nos. 101 to 103, inclusive, taken with Written Answers.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Further and Higher Education

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Alan Dillon: 104. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update surrounding recent announcements on the new further education and training, FET, colleges of the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59840/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Alan Dillon: Will the Minister provide an update on the recent announcements around the new FET colleges of the future?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I am always delighted to provide Deputy Dillon with an update but I do not have a huge amount of an update since we last met on Monday in Castlebar. That was a good day and we had the clear decision that Castlebar, County Mayo, will be the home of a new further education college of the future, which we call a FET college of the future. What that means to people in Castlebar and Mayo is that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Alan Dillon: I publicly thank the Minister for coming to Castlebar earlier this week to deliver the fantastic news on the Mayo College of Further Education and Training. This will be a multimillion euro project for County Mayo and Castlebar. It will strengthen our appeal in the future economic outlook and will invest in FET. This significant capital investment will transform that campus. We have an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The first ten locations are in the process of being announced. We are up to about five or six locations and all ten will have been announced within the next week. What then has to happen is all ten need to work intensively with SOLAS, their ETB and my Department to prepare the next phase. These are multimillion euro projects and this is a scale of investment in FET we simply have not seen...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Alan Dillon: We have Mayo College of Further Education and Training progressing with this capital development on the back of the establishment of the ATU in Mayo, which is designated for Castlebar. We are offering postgraduate courses with other disciplines, ranging from outdoor education to, as we mentioned previously, digital media and cybersecurity. This means there is a university campus along with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I was delighted to see the Minister in Mayo on Monday. As the Minister did, I commend and acknowledge all the work that has been done there by the project team, particularly by Michael Murphy and Tom Grady from Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim ETB. They have wanted this and worked on it for so many years and it is a long-term project. I was also delighted to see Paddy McGuinness there, who has done...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I am not in any way concerned about the timelines but it is important to be upfront and blunt about them, which I have been in every visit I have made to a location that has been chosen as an FET college of the future. These are multi-year projects. I cannot say whether it will be four, five or six years but that is the range of years we are talking about. People in Castlebar and Mayo will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Rose Conway-Walsh: He has.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I send him all our best wishes. On student accommodation, I spoke to the president of the ATU, Orla Flynn, and the chair of the governing authority, Maura McNally, on this as recently as Monday. Before I was in Castlebar I met them in Galway. It is clear as a result of the Government decision yesterday that technological universities can and should prepare to submit plans for student...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Further and Higher Education