Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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356. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total allocated capital investment in higher education since 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34029/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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With regard to building, equipment and ICT investment, the total capital investment in the higher education sector since 2016 has been €244m.  This refers to funding provided by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science since its establishment in 2020 and, prior to that, by the Department of Education and Skills. 

For clarity, the above does not include Public Private Partnership (PPP) payments or funding for research grants or programmes, some of which would also have supported research infrastructure.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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357. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount from higher education that has been allocated the Children’s Hospital each year; the projected expenditure from the higher education to the Children’s Hospital; the number of additional healthcare roles by profession that will be provided when the hospital is operational in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34030/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department has allocated €17m to support the provision of 3,486sqm of higher education facilities at the National Children’s Hospital.  €10m of the funding allocated was drawn down by the Department of Health in 2019.  The balance of funding is expected to be drawn down across 2021 and 2022.

This allocation will support provision of facilities for specialist undergraduate and postgraduate training in areas such as pediatric medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, radiography and psychology. The higher education space is fully embedded in the overall hospital building project and is being delivered under the governance arrangements for that project.

In relation to 'the number of additional healthcare roles by profession that will be provided when the hospital is operational in tabular form', my Department has no information in this regard.  The Department of Health has advised that as this relates to an operational issue, it is a matter for the HSE. 

The Department of Health request that members of the Oireachtas should be advised that the HSE is currently unable to access the information to answer Parliamentary Questions due to the recent cyber-attack, which has required a temporary shut-down of HSE IT systems.  The disruption to service is on-going, and the HSE is working hard to restore its IT capacity and resume normal services.  Members of the Oireachtas will be advised as soon as the HSE is again in a position to provide responses to PQs and are encouraged to resubmit their Parliamentary Questions at that point.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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358. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the capital investment in further education and training each year since 2016; the anticipated expenditure in FET over the next five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34031/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Prior to the current National Development Plan (NDP), there was no dedicated capital investment envelope for the FET sector. 

The current NDP marked a turning point. For the first time, a dedicated capital envelope was established for the FET sector.  Available funding has increased from €5.5m in 2018 to €17.5m in 2020 to a planned investment of €32.5m in 2021.

FET funding for the coming years will be determined once the current NDP review concludes.