Laura Harmon (Labour)

I welcome the Minister and look forward to engaging with him in respect of his brief. I congratulate him. It is great to see the work he has been doing so far.

I want to raise a couple of issues briefly, the first being student housing. Funding really needs to be unlocked for the technological university sector. It needs to be allowed to borrow money to purchase and build purpose-built student accommodation. Also, we need to have a proper student housing strategy. I believe one is due to be finished in quarter 2 of this year. We will welcome seeing it when published. It is urgently needed.

On apprenticeships, scrapping the fees would certainly be welcome, as would ensuring apprentices have a living wage, because we need to keep people in apprenticeships and in the sector. With regard to targeting specific skills deficits, unfortunately we are exporting many teachers to places such as Dubai. We need to keep them here.

We need to consider other skill sets, including in construction. There are radiography machines in Cork that are not being used because there are no staff to operate them. Therefore, radiology is another area that needs to be focused on.

The higher education sector has identified that there was previously an annual funding deficit of €307 million. How has that been bridged? Where are we in that regard?

Addressing consent and tackling sexual violence on campuses have been a genuine success. Over the past decade, in particular, we have had the likes of the Bystander Intervention programme in UCC, spearheaded by Louise Crowley. It has been really successful.

Another area that could be examined in terms of third level education is racism. A survey by the Irish Council for International Students found that 63% of international students had either experienced or witnessed racism. Using the model of the consent programmes in racism training would be really impactful.

It is really alarming that Ireland has the lowest disability employment rate in the European Union. We are 20% behind our European counterparts. Much of this has to do with education and training.

I look forward to engaging further with the Minister and congratulate him on his brief.