Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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134. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a breakdown of all staff employed in third level education to address issues of access among disadvantaged socioeconomic groups or for students with disabilities; if each institution has a full time staff person dealing with this specific area and the implementation of the national access plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38393/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not collect data on the total number of staff in third level education that are engaged, in supporting access for under-represented groups.

However, it is my understanding that each publicly funded higher education institution has a full time access and/or a full-time disability officer.

In addition, there will also be other staff members within each institution who support students from disadvantaged backgrounds to access into and successfully complete third level education.

One of the actions in the National Access Plan for Higher Education, 2015-19, is to mainstream access across higher education institutions, so that promoting and supporting access becomes a priority for the institution as a whole, and is not seen to be the sole responsibility of the access office. My Department is currently engaging with the Higher Education Authority to progress this commitment.