Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Not at all. They are very welcome. I will return to my points, which the Cathaoirleach will have to remind me of.

I was speaking about the apprenticeship programme, which has 70 courses available. Those opportunities are so people can work for a period of time and get a qualification. The qualification can be a diploma, a degree, or can go the whole way to a PhD. We have that across so many courses and apprenticeships. I really want to call for is the availability of those types of courses in what are now our campus towns, as well as our campus cities, throughout the country. I know the Minister is supportive of this. Two important programmes the HEA will have brought to the Minister's attention are particularly about challenges we have in parts of the country, namely, access to GPs in regional areas. One innovative course being offered through the University of Galway is based on clear best evidence from Canada about achievements and success in this area. It is about how we can have an intake of medical graduate students who will perhaps have a background in and understanding of regional towns but will also, on qualification, be there to take up these roles in our communities. The challenge in regional areas like counties Roscommon and Galway, and in Ballinasloe, is that it can be difficult to attract people for this type of role where there is so much driving. As the Minister is aware, this is the case if a GP takes on a role in a rural area. We fought for Westdoc funding to support them, but they are travelling long distances. It is not like a city where everything is in a small area. People can come in by public transport, and perhaps the GP does not have to go to visit someone in their 70s and 80s because it may be easier for them to get to the facility. That is not the case in rural areas. We need ways to incentivise people. Part of that is by ensuring we are offering courses for people who will take up these roles in our rural areas. That will show how Ireland and this Department will deliver for communities across Ireland.

Another area the Minister is looking at is the veterinary courses in Kilkenny and in Mountbellew, County Galway, where the agricultural campus there is linked with Atlantic Technological University in Letterkenny. That is about farming and the challenge we have when it comes to big animal vets. We have a demand for those in the country. Farming and agriculture is one of the largest sectors in this economy. I might mention other areas in my own region. I extend an invitation for the Minister to come visit us in counties Galway and Roscommon. He would see how the Ballinasloe College of Further Education is operating. I know this is something on his list. This is about the availability of these courses for people coming out of the leaving certificate.

The Minister has issued funding under further education for people with disabilities. Approximately €40 million was allocated to that. We spoke already about the expansion of funding to TUs. The increase in spending is something else, if I may speak about this in terms of research and innovation. Our colleague Deputy Stanton had a good public meeting with the AMBER SFI centre for advanced materials research. Having worked as an administrator in Science Foundation Ireland and in the research office in the University of Galway, I really see the excellence there. Ireland stands head and shoulders above so many other countries in our achievements, and I know we do not talk about it as much as we should. We do not shine a light on it. I know they do this in the Minister's Department, but we need to shine a light on the excellence happening every day. We saw the Nobel Prize for medicine awarded to Katalin Karikó, a Hungarian researcher who went to work in the United States. She joined with a US colleague and with BioNTech, whose founders were first generation Turkish migrants to Germany. It is incredible how research and researchers are so international. It is incredible how people follow excellence, and they are coming to Ireland. We have such a multinational research cohort both at PhD and postdoctoral level. I would like to highlight the importance of funding excellence and the importance of our brand research and innovation agency, which will be coming on stream shortly. There is funding in this budget that we are looking at how we are supporting excellence. That innovation is going to drive change and drive the innovation we will see and need in Ireland in the years ahead, be it for climate change or medical innovation or, as our AMBER colleagues told us a while ago, how everything we use, from our phones to our medical devices, is literally materials. These points are key and I know the Minister will be taking my colleague's points back too. Research and development funding is important. Given these new agencies, including research and innovation Ireland, will bring a focus to the importance of the impact arts and science have on our society and economy, it will be crucial that funding is allocated to support that agency in terms of administration, early stage career researchers, PhDs and postdoctoral researchers. That funding will be crucial in the time ahead.