Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1183. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his Department, and public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit facilitate internships by students engaged in full-time or part-time further and higher education courses; if so, the number of interns his Department, and public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit accept annually; if any or all of these interns receive remuneration of any kind; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20008/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) was established in July 2020. Since its inception, the Department has been largely operating on a hybrid working basis.

It is the intention of DFHERIS to facilitate internships going forward and this will be set out in the context of a HR Strategy later this year.

Given working arrangements in the Department over the past 20 months, it has only been possible to facilitate one unpaid internship for a 6 month period from January 2022.

The information in respect of the aegis bodies, within the scope of the Deputy’s question, is not held by my Department.  Contact details for these bodies are set out in the attached document should the Deputy wish to contact them directly with her query.

Note 1 – In regard to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Irish Research Council (IRC) as the IRC operates under the auspices of the HEA. Mr. Mellett will address Oireachtas queries for both the HEA and IRC. Please use Oireachtas@hea.ie and Oireachtas@research.ie, respectively to contact Mr. Mellett.