Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for my first opportunity to address the new Seanad and to be here as Minister for a new Department of further and higher education, research, innovation and science. I am very excited about the establishment of this new Department and the opportunity to work with Members of Seanad Éireann. There is a wealth of knowledge, experience and interest in the House on a cross-party and cross-grouping basis in areas to do with further and higher education, research, innovation and science, and how we can get them to work together. I very much see this new Department as a Department to promote economic growth and the well-being of our country and helping to get people back to work and reskill and retrain people, as well as being a social Department to promote social inclusion and cohesion to make sure that every single individual in our country, regardless of where they came from, their gender, or who they or their parents are, has an opportunity to reach his or her full potential through a variety of routes. That is what I would like it to engage with Senators on, not just today but over the coming weeks and months.

For the purposes of this debate, I will stay for the first half and will be replaced by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, because he has specific responsibility for skills. That will provide Senators with a full view of the range of things we are doing in our new Department.

I am glad to have a chance to set out the priorities, which I believe are shared priorities across the Oireachtas, for this Department so it can be an engine for social and economic progress. It will be a crucial driver as we rebuild, and reshape, our economy for the post-Covid area, founded on a principle of equality of opportunity and uniting third level education with the key sectors of research, innovation and science. I will speak more on this later, but first I want to update the House on the current, important and critical work being done to safely reopen third level education.

As Ireland moves towards a gradual return to on-site activity, institutions, providers, staff and learners across higher and further education continue to demonstrate the commitment, adaptability and resilience which has delivered a preservation of learning throughout the pandemic. That is an important point. Third level education did not stop during the pandemic; rather, it moved online. Our lecturers, teachers, leaders and students showed incredible resilience in adapting overnight to moving from on-site to online learning. An interesting QQI report showed that despite that major change, institutions still managed to uphold the standards and the integrity of the qualifications. I want to thank and pay tribute to those involved for that.

As we begin to return to a blended model, which will not be the same as others and will not involve everybody returning in one fell swoop or en masse, but instead involves a mix of on-site and online learning, the safety of students and staff is an absolute priority. It is priority number one, two and three when it comes to the reopening of third level. The sector is committed to ensuring that all health protection measures are in place, led by detailed guidance developed with public health experts. I met the Irish Universities Association, IUA, the Technological Higher Education Association, THEA Ireland, which represents institutes of technology, and all of the unions last week. I also met the USI. There is really good collaboration going on, and most importantly that is grounded in public health advice from public health officials.

Communication to students and learners will also be a priority as they move from emergency remote learning towards a mode of blended learning, which combines online and on-site provision. The national tertiary education roadmap and a Covid-19 adaption framework was developed. This provides a shared structure for Government, sectors, institutions and providers to use in returning safely this autumn while also continuing to plan and adapt as we move through the pandemic and may move up and down different levels of our roadmap for living with Covid. This was, of course, supported by a funding package because funding is important. There are costs associated with this. A large funding package of €160 million was provided by the Government and welcomed by many in response to the additional cost of reopening safely.

Last week, in light of the deterioration in the Covid-19 situation in Dublin, and following NPHET's request, the Government asked that higher and further education institutions consider enhanced protective measures. I want to acknowledge and commend stakeholders across the sector for their engagement and willingness to adapt to heightened restrictions coming just at the exact time most students are commencing their academic year.It could not come at a more difficult time for them and I thank them for their leadership in responding to that NPHET request.

The additional protections being put in place will see a more gradual reopening of higher and further educational facilities in Dublin. Individual institutions revised their plans and communicated with students. The following overall approach will be adopted for the initial period ahead in Dublin.

Institutions will use discretion when deciding between on-site and remote for the scheduling of particular activities where remote delivery is feasible during this period. On-site provision will be minimised with priority given to teaching and learning that can only take place on-site. This includes prioritising research. A person cannot have a science laboratory in his or her kitchen.

As regards on-site classes that need to take place, this includes trying to make sure to minimise the number of students congregating at one time and positively discriminating in favour of things that cannot take place online. It also allows institutions to bring in priority student cohorts including first year students, perhaps, in smaller groups for induction, orientation and some small tutorials. It also includes keeping the libraries open so students can go in and learn, again, in a controlled manner. Sadly, in Dublin, on-site social club activities cannot proceed currently while we are at this heightened level of concern regarding Covid-19. Outside Dublin, the reopening of facilities is proceeding as planned based on the public health advice on that model of blended learning and full adherence to the public health advice.

A robust model of outbreak management is being put in place as a priority and this is important. We have seen in crèches, schools, workplaces, homes and anywhere people gather that Covid-19 cases can happen. It is important we have a good outbreak management system in place so that when it happens, everybody knows what they need to do and that what they do is grounded in no principle other than public health. I want to thank everybody for working on that outbreak management protocol that is being finalised as we speak. I expect it to be finalised tomorrow. This aims to safeguard students and staff and the communities in which they are located. Detailed information is available to students and learners directly from their institutions and providers and will be frequently updated. 

With regard to further education, many have already returned to on-site learning. Craft apprentices who had their off-the-job training and assessments disrupted in March have returned on-site to complete practical assessments. Recommencement of disrupted training began at the end of August and apprentices will be called for off-the-job training in line with public health guidance.

I am conscious, however, that one cannot just provide additional money to institutions and to bricks and mortar. In our package of support, we also had to provide additional supports for students and to protect students' well-being. I was particularly pleased to secure a financial package of €5 million to support students' well-being and mental health. This will be used to recruit additional student counsellors and assistant psychologists and will support the implementation of the soon-to-be-published national student mental health and suicide prevention framework.

Last week, along with the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, and higher education counsellors, I launched a new 24-7 text-based mental health support for third level students and I ask colleagues to help spread the word. Let us make this number famous. It is available 24-7 and anytime, day or night, any day of the week, a person can text the word "Hello" to 50808. It is not just for students. Somebody will be at the end of that line, 24-7, to help people tease out and work through any issue, big or small, and direct him or her to any additional supports. The number is 50808. I ask Senators to please help get that out.

I am aware Senator Ahearn contacted me on the issue of making sure money for mental health is getting exactly where we want it to get to. I have communicated directly with the HSE on this. I am clear that I want to make sure the use of the money for mental health is to be used directly for the expansion, development and improvement of student counselling services, which are excellent. We need, however, to improve their access as well.

We also put a fund in place for student devices worth €15 million which has allowed higher and further education institutions to place a bulk order of 16,700 devices for students across third level. I heard from students who said we cannot tell them they are doing stuff online and all of a sudden not make sure they have access to the devices. We know many families and many people have fallen on hard times so I hope this funding will go some way towards bridging the digital divide, supporting students and ensuring equality of access to education. 

I am delighted we have been able to double the student assistance fund. This is the fund that a student can draw down through his or her access office if he or she falls on hard times. There was €8 million in it. We have doubled that to €16 million.

Where they provide accommodation, I have asked higher education institutions to show flexibility and common sense in terms of its use. If a student is not going to be in college the way he or she normally would, institutions should see if they can use the accommodation in a more flexible way and allow somebody to book a room for two or three nights a week or month, or whatever his or her schedule requires. I am grateful that a number of higher education institutions have done that.

While it is not in my power to issue instructions to the private rental market, I urge private providers to follow suit. I note that the USI met with my colleague, the Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy O'Brien, this week and we will continue to work together to see how we can support students. Being honest, in the long term we need to provide more college-owned accommodation. We need to be less reliant on the private market. We are far too vulnerable and exposed when we do not have enough college-owned and university-owned campus accommodation.As I have been asked to do so, I will briefly return to some of the priorities of the new Department, particularly those we are progressing between now and the end of the year. One of our earliest priorities was to secure the funding package I referenced earlier but also to secure significant investment in the Government's July stimulus to tap into the potential of the new Department, which has responsibility for the training budget that goes to education and training boards, ETBs, for SOLAS and for apprenticeships, to see how we can help contribute to economic recovery. We need to provide the many people who will have lost their jobs and who may be concerned about losing them with opportunities to re-skill and retrain. I am delighted we received €100 million through the July stimulus to fund 35,500 additional training places across the country this year and thank the Taoiseach for his support in that regard. This includes 19,000 full and part-time places through the skills to compete programme aimed at unemployed people seeking work, as well as 3,300 one year postgraduate courses in areas where there is a skills need.

For the first time in the history of the State, we are now providing a financial incentive scheme for people who take on apprentices. Businesses which do so will receive €3,000 in cash, €2,000 now and the remainder next year for each new apprentice they take on. We have seen more than 500 additional apprentices be signed up under the apprenticeship incentivisation scheme since we announced it a few weeks ago. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit where apprenticeships are concerned. We need to drop the snobbish attitude we have in this country about higher education and need to provide more diverse pathways. Apprenticeships have huge untapped potential in this country as well.

We must get serious about adult literacy, numeracy and digital skills. Some 16% of us do not have basic literacy skills, 25% of us do not have basic numeracy skills and 55% of us do not have basic digital skills. If we are serious about creating equality of opportunity we need to address that. That is why on International Literacy Day I announced Government approval to task SOLAS with developing the first-ever interdepartmental adult literacy, numeracy and digital skills strategy within the next six months. Members of this House will be very interested in the issue of technological universities as many of them have been in touch with me about it, and Senator Byrne more than most, in particular in regard to the development of a technological university, TU, in the south east. We are accelerating plans for the development of this vital facility for the region with the appointment of Mr. Tom Boland to spearhead the project and this will be a key priority in the coming months.

As well as providing diverse pathways though, we have to respect diversity in university. I am extremely concerned about sexual violence and sexual harassment and indeed the issue of consent at third level. I would be glad to work with Senators on this. I have launched the new active consent toolkit developed by NUIG and written to all university presidents on the need for an action plan on sexual violence for every institution to be published by February. We have to get serious about this. There is very concerning information about staff and students. I will not take up time going through all of that but I think many Members will have heard me talk about the cultural shift we need to see here. Sexual harassment is not confined to our universities but we need to lead rather than be laggards in this regard.

Finally I wish to address research, innovation and science. There is a huge opportunity here with Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council and higher education institutions now being under one Department to drive forward the research agenda, to draw down opportunities under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme and to try to influence the future direction of European research and innovation policy. The delivery of the Tyndall National Institute development plan for a new facility on the Tyndall site in Cork will double the size of Ireland's largest research centre specialising in ICT. As such there is huge potential here to make exciting, positive change for the future of our country. I am grateful to the House for its interest in this and look forward to drawing on Members' expertise and working with them in the days, weeks and months ahead.