Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. There is a little bit of déjà vugiven we were discussing the question of higher education funding here yesterday. I will come to that presently.

I begin with the situation in Ukraine and will raise a number of issues. It is important we put on record the strong support that has been made available by the universities, the technological universities, some of the institutes of technology and the other colleges. These have been places of sanctuary for many Ukrainian students and are doing everything they can to facilitate them. It is important to welcome the efforts by the staff, students and leadership of those institutions. It is important to ensure supports for students who do not have a strong command of English are made available not just to students but to others. I am aware much work has been done on this by the education and training boards, ETBs, especially.

There is urgent clarity required with regard to the SUSI grants scheme. At the moment, applications are being made under SUSI. Normally, the students would be caught because of the residency requirement as they have not resided here for a sufficient number of years. There needs to be clarity provided pretty quickly on whether Ukrainian students will be able to qualify for student grant support. If that is the case, there are obviously going to be implications for other students who may not satisfy the residency requirement and urgency is required in respect of the policy having been fully thought through. Recognition of qualifications is going to be especially important. I ask of the Minister of State's office that regarding Ukrainian arrivals who have teaching qualifications, pressure be applied to the Teaching Council to make decisions quickly. We have some highly qualified people here and the council must move quickly, particularly in areas where we have a teaching skills shortage and these teachers could be of enormous benefit. It is important we get clarity in those spaces.

Many Ukrainian students are continuing to pursue their course with their home university but are doing it in an online environment.It is essential that wherever the displaced people from Ukraine end up, and some are in hotels and so on, they have access to the necessary laptops and other equipment and adequate broadband to ensure that they are able access the courses being delivered online from their home universities. Certainly, I know there are moves with regard to the provision of student accommodation over the summer but we need to look beyond that because, obviously, that is only going to be a summer provision for those students. There will have to be clarity as to what will happen when the academic year resumes in the autumn.

One thing I also think is very important is that there are obviously a number of Russian and Belarusian students in our higher education institutions who, in most cases, want no hand, act or part in Putin's war. It is important that there is an awareness of those students and that any attempt to discriminate against them is not allowed to manifest itself. It is important that we continue to have a very open and tolerant higher education environment.

One thing I ask the Minister of State's Department to consider is its role and that of the sector on helping to rebuild Ukraine. When Ukraine wins this war, which it has to do, there will have to be a huge requirement for rebuilding its education system right from the start. In many cases, schools, colleges and universities have been damaged or destroyed but there are also going to be policy areas in which Ukraine will need help. I ask that the Minister of State's Department start to put in place a strategy to look at how Ireland can contribute toward the rebuilding of Ukraine whenever this dreadful and terrible war finally ends.

I will turn to the issue of core funding. I welcome the Minister of State's statement today, following on from his statement in this House yesterday, around finally addressing the issue of higher education funding. It is absolutely critical that we cannot let it go on any further. Those in the sector are tired of hearing this will be the year it will be addressed. I am even conscious of the paragraph where the Minister of State talked about how "the new funding and reform framework will be provided to the Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science ... and will be published along with the DG Reform sponsored economic assessment ... and the SUSI review". The question I have is when? We have been told these things are coming. The sector can no longer wait. I expressed that view to the Minister of State previously. The Minister, Deputy Harris, said we should look at cutting student fees. I have real worries about that. If we just see a cut to student fees without guarantees that a commensurate amount of funding is made available to the higher education system, our system, which is under pressure now, will only end up in a much worse situation.

It is my view that in terms of priority funding, we need to address core funding and SUSI grant reform. As the Minister of State pointed out very clearly in his contribution, a significant number of students would not benefit in any case from a cut to student fees. Those are the students who would be best supported. They mostly tend to be those experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. They would be best supported by SUSI grant reform. I wish the Minister of State well in his work. I know it is a big agenda. I need to stress to him again, however, the urgency of addressing the higher education funding crisis.