Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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541. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of the supports that his Department has provided for Ukraine and for Ukrainian people since February 2022, whether in Ukraine or within the State; the number of people supported where relevant; the estimated cost and value of the support, where available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8868/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine the Government has been unequivocal in its welcome of people fleeing the war in Ukraine and I have been proud to see that this approach widely reflected throughout our society and in particular in our further and higher education sectors.

Under Section 60(6) of the Act ‘qualified persons’ are entitled to access the labour market, healthcare, social protection and education on the same basis as citizens of Ireland.

In May 2022, I established the National Student and Researcher (NSR) Helpdesk, to act as a national single point of contact for displaced students and researchers wishing to access the higher education and research system for the 2022/23 academic year. This was necessary as many displaced persons were arriving into Ireland after the CAO process had been concluded. The NSR Helpdesk helped to place over 300 displaced students into higher education for the 2022/23 academic year.

In June 2022, I brought a Memo to Government to agree a range of supports for qualified persons to access higher and further education. This included a Temporary Tuition Fee Support Scheme, a bursary for displaced persons interested in pursuing a Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) course, an extension of the Student Assistance Fund and of Springboard. I also indicated my intention to use the national Erasmus grant to financially support displaced Ukrainian students who took up full-time education.

These measures were agreed by Government for the 2022/23 academic year only.

In total 322 displaced students availed of the Temporary Tuition Fee Support Scheme and as of 19 February 2023, 472 awards have been made under the PLC bursary scheme.

In 2022, the national Programme and Learner Support System (PLSS) database indicates that 20,591 learners from Ukraine had so far engaged with FET courses. The majority of these (89%) have engaged on an ESOL course. The highest number of these learners are in Kerry ETB, followed by Limerick Clare ETB and Donegal ETB. Approximately three-quarters of these learners are female.

The estimated total cost allocated to Ukraine supports by my Department in 2022 was €17.723m. In total, €9m was allocated to SOLAS for further education, €4.880m was allocated to the Institutes of Technology and Universities for the payment of student fees and provision of mental health supports, €1.666m was allocated to further student supports, €1.6m was allocated to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to support the Erasmus programme for the Ukrainian students and a further €440,562 was paid to NUI Maynooth for the operation of the NSR Helpdesk.