John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I commend the Minister and the Minister of State for the work they have done in modernising the entry system for access third level education. The changes that have been by the National Tertiary Office for people who do not have to have the requisite leaving certificate points is a really welcome move. I know this is only the start of the process and that it will be expanded in time.

I also welcome the changes that have been made to the apprenticeship system in the context of access and how apprenticeships are presented in the context of this CAO system. I am not too old - I am only 36 - to remember that not so long ago if a person wanted to do an apprenticeship, they were dealt with separately. The process was completely separate from the CAO process, whereas now they have been integrated. This change has been welcomed by parents, students and teachers. Our target of achieving 10,000 apprenticeships by 2025 can probably be realised before that date because of the investment going to new training centres. In my county of Waterford, €8 million has been invested in a new training centre to increase the number of apprenticeships available.

Notwithstanding the comments made by Senator Ruane regarding the difficulties faced by students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who are neurodivergent being able to take up part-time work, many students do in fact get jobs. When I attended the University of Limerick I worked at various times during the summer months in the concert hall, the Theatre Royal in Waterford, Smyth's toy store and Superquinn. These jobs allowed me pay for college. That is why a change made last year which was a really welcome move. This increases the disregard for students from €4,500 to €6,552 to allow them to earn money out of term.That was a really welcome recognition of the fact that students do go out to work and try to earn additional income outside of term time. I would like us to be able to build on that, to be perfectly honest. I think that if a student is working, is earning money and has the ability to be able to do that, it should be completely disregarded in the SUSI grant means test. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could take that up.

On the issue of student accommodation, I do not need to tell the Minister of State of the difficulties in that space. I know that the Minister, Deputy Harris, also recognises that. A €1 million fund has been put in place to carry out a needs analysis across the TU sector in terms of student accommodation My own university, the South Eastern Technological University, SETU, is the only TU that has a track record of building student accommodation. As the former Waterford Institute of Technology, it was the only institute of technology to have delivered on-campus accommodation. It has already done that needs analysis. The next stage it needs to get to is to get a design team in place and get its student accommodation plans to planning permission stage. Really, notwithstanding the importance of having a framework for the whole sector, if we have a university that is ready and willing to drive on, we need to support that. I would appreciate it if both the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Harris, would see to it that this side of Christmas the likes of SETU are able to progress their student accommodation plans because of the importance of providing that affordable on-campus student accommodation.