Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis na Seanadóirí. I thank the Members for the opportunity to be here with them today. I know the Seanad has raised a number of issues including student accommodation, access to third level and access to apprenticeships.

I am very happy to discuss all of them today but I want to start by being very clear that this Government and my Department are absolutely focused on addressing the challenges facing students and their families. We have tried to do this through a variety of means, including reducing fees for the first time in 30 years, reforming the student grant system and investing public money into the construction of student accommodation for the first time. We have also reformed the apprenticeship system with record numbers of people applying to become an apprentice. We have created new degrees outside the CAO system, with 20 new courses being rolled out at the minute. This reform is vital if we are to end the pressure we place on our young people. This is something that we need to keep on talking about, focusing on and adapting policy to.

There is the idea of telling every young person and not-so-young person that there is one way of succeeding in life, and one way only, rather than asking them what they are passionate about, what is in their heart, what is in their soul, what difference they want to make in their community and world, and how we help them get there. This is the case whether they are a student with a disability or who has had nobody in their family before going on to third level education, whether they are a student who would like to become an apprentice, or whether they are a student who is not 18 or 19 but is 45 years of age, has two kids, a mortgage and full-time job, and also needs to get back to education. We need to move beyond this narrow way of funnelling everybody through the CAO system and that is what I am absolutely determined to do.

I will start by speaking about access to third level education. The announcement of CAO offers is always a significant day for students around the country and this year saw a record 57,980 applicants receiving an offer in the first round of CAO offers. More than 31,000 applicants received a first preference offer for a level 8 course, compared to 28,000 last year. I am very pleased to see that approximately 60% of students are now getting their first choice which is a direct result of the investment we have made in providing additional courses, not just additional courses in a general sense, but in trying to grow the number of places in courses where there is real demand. This is demand from both a public service point of view and from students, including 465 additional places available in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and other key healthcare courses. That has resulted in points for these courses falling.

Expanding courses in higher education is really important but it should not be the only route people have available to them. We know the points system can cripple people and can place a ridiculously unnecessary amount of stress on our young people. That is why I am determined we develop new pathways. This is not just talk. I was in Sligo on Monday of this week and I met the first nursing students from Sligo, Donegal and Galway, who are doing their nursing degree. Nobody asked them what points they got in the leaving certificate or asked them to apply through the CAO. They have started their degree based on an interview, on their passion, and on the suitability they demonstrated at that interview. They will begin their degree in a college of further education and they will complete their degree in the Atlantic Technological University. They will not have to do what happened in the past where people were passionate and committed to doing a nursing post-leaving certificate course, PLC, and nine out of ten of them then headed to the UK. We have enough challenges in staffing our own health service without trying to staff the National Health Service, NHS. This idea that one could get all of the distinctions possible in a further education course and still not be allowed into the university to complete one's degree needs to end and is one which needs to go out with the dinosaurs. I am very pleased that we now have 23 degree courses beginning this year in what we call the new joint tertiary degrees which are not linked to what one got in the leaving certificate examination or to the points system. This is just the beginning.

I was delighted last week to announce a new expressions of interest round and we have written to all of our universities and education and training boards, ETBs, encouraging them to get involved. We intend to at least double the number of degree courses available outside of that CAO points race next year.

I am conscious we are meeting today a week or a little less out from the budget and I wish to update the House on the measures we are taking to help students through the cost-of-living challenges. This year, 2023, we allocated €430 million for overall student support measures. The majority of this is through the student grant scheme. This year, we have received 93,000 applications for the student grant scheme and 70,100 have been awarded to date. The grant is the main source of support for students but for the first time this year, we have offered relief to students, including a 50% reduction in fees for anyone earning between €55,240 to €62,000. If one's household income is below €62,000, one's fees are reduced by at least 50%. Further to that, if one's income is between €62,000 and €100,000, we are giving every student €500 off the student contribution fee. Fees have been permanently reduced in this country for anybody with a household income of less than €100,000. I want to do more and to go further. In addition, we have allocated €20 million for the student assistance fund, which is a discretionary fund for students to help with the cost of living.

Colleagues will know I also managed to reduce college fees for the first time last year. This was well-received help. If a person had one, two or three students in college at the same time in one's family, to have to find the €3,000 registration fee is a great deal of money for people, particularly for those who do not qualify for a grant. I was pleased that we were able to reduce fees by €1,000 by either giving people back €1,000 before Christmas or by knocking €1,000 of the bill. Obviously, what happens in the budget is a matter for budget day but if one does something well and it works once, it is certainly worth considering if it can be done again.

I am also working closely with the Taoiseach and his Department on measures we can take to try to help groups which are under-represented at third level education. I have heard very clearly from representative groups for one-parent families that it is very bizarre, unfair and a trap sometimes, that we say to people who are perhaps trying to raise children, hold down a job and pay the rent or mortgage, that, of course, they can access third level of education but we will only provide them with some form of financial assistance or free fees if they do it on a full-time basis. Many Members here will know from their work and engagement with constituents that for many people, the only way that they can access third level education might be on a part-time basis. It is a perfectly good way of doing it. It gets the person the same qualification but such a person cannot access the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, system, or the free fees. I am looking to see in the context of the focus on child poverty, child well-being and how we try to break cycles of disadvantage, if we can open up those supports around fees and those supports around student grants to part-time education, particularly for those groups at most risk of socio-economic disadvantage and I will continue to work at that.

I am extraordinarily aware of the greatest challenge facing a student and indeed their parents with regard to costs which is, of course, affordable accommodation. The difficulties faced by students in accessing affordable accommodation is something that I am completely committed to addressing. Believe it or not, up until last November, there had never been State intervention with regard to building student accommodation. It had either been left to the universities to borrow of their own volition or had been left to the private market. Since November, we have changed Government policy and we are now directly investing taxpayers' money in helping make student accommodation projects progress. This will see the State directly investing up to €61 million in the construction of around 1,000 new student beds across a number of higher education institutes with delivery expected to begin on this in 2024.We have also provided €1 million to our technological universities to begin to plan. We have universities in the regions now, which is important, but we need to make sure they have student accommodation. I expect in 2024 we will start to see their plans as to how many student accommodation beds are needed in Sligo, Tralee, Athlone, Carlow and Waterford and how to make it happen. In addition, my Department continues to work with UCD and TCD on some larger scale proposals where they have active planning permissions which I would like to progress.

I accept the rent-a-room and digs scheme may not work for everyone, but it works for some. As of Friday, more than 2,000 rooms were available to rent on college websites throughout the country. Last year when we introduced the renter tax credit, I worked with the Minister with responsibility for housing and the Minister for Finance to ensure that tax credit applied to students in student accommodation. If the credit increases in the coming days and weeks, I want to make sure students and parents benefit.

I acknowledge the incredible work done by the Irish Universities Association, the Technological Higher Education Association, THEA, and others in relation to sustainable funding and core funding of our universities. We have acknowledged that an additional €307 million needs to go into our universities in the years ahead. We have made some progress on that and put an additional €40 million in last year. That has seen for the first time in many years a significant increase in staffing levels in our universities. I think more than 1,500 additional permanent staff were able to be hired. Of course, I would like to go further on core funding this year. I acknowledge the excellent work that has been done but Government has to balance many competing priorities. We need to properly and sustainably fund higher education and further education, support apprenticeships, have an integrated tertiary system and support students and parents with the cost of education. I am hopeful we can progress on a number of these areas in the budget next week but, more importantly, in the weeks and months ahead. In the relatively short time my Department has been in place, we have seen a renewed focus on higher and further education, increased investment, falling fees, increased student accommodation, increased grants and a focus on students with disabilities.

We have made good progress on special needs education, though it is not perfect. It means sometimes the cliff edge has moved. I acknowledge Senator Clonan, who worked with me on this before he was a Senator, and his son Eoghan. We need to make sure the fund for students with disabilities applies to all our students. I am pleased we are making progress on that. We also need to look at examples of best practice like the Trinity centre for people with intellectual disabilities, and how to expand that model. There is now a funding line available to all our universities to develop programmes specifically for students with intellectual disabilities. I am enthused by the level of interest from the universities in developing new programmes. The funding is in place and I expect to be in a position to make a number of exciting announcements in 2024 with those universities about expanding those opportunities.