Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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641. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he proposes to broaden the higher education opportunities for undergraduates with a view to maximisation of their opportunities in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40291/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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It is a priority of the Department to expand pathways into and within tertiary education, supporting learners to get to where they want to go according to a learning route that is well-suited to their needs.

There are approximately 400,000 people enrolled in further and higher education in Ireland, and this is projected to grow further in the coming years. My Department has prioritised enhancing the responsiveness of the sector to acute skills needs and this work is ongoing. There has been significant investment in additional provision across multiple programmes and disciplines, including landmark agreements for additionality in Medicine and other healthcare disciplines both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Following on from my announcement regarding two new Veterinary Schools, I expect to announce further investment in healthcare programme expansion in the short and medium term. Funding secured in Budget 2025 will provide crucial resources to support the tertiary education system, including the multiple pathways for students to access higher education and training.

Initiatives including Apprenticeships, Tertiary Degrees and Engagement with Enterprise regarding skills will continue to provide alternative pathways for students to participate and overcome barriers to higher education and provide more graduates in critical skills areas.

One of my priorities as Minister is to ensure that there are multiple routes for learners to realise their chosen career and educational goals. For anyone who cannot gain access to higher education through the traditional CAO route, there is often an alternative education path available to them. That could be through the new joint tertiary programmes, or through further education or apprenticeships.

There are many subsidised programmes offered through higher education that allow for upskilling, reskilling and lifelong learning, these include Springboard+, the Human Capital Initiative and micro-credential courses. Many of the courses offered through these programmes focus on areas of skills need, such as ICT, construction, and green skills.

Last year new programmes were launched that let you start off a degree in your local Further Education College with all the peer support and familiarity that that setting provides, before moving smoothly on to finish the degree in a Higher Education institution.

The focus for 2025 on onwards will be on expanding programmes offered in areas where there are acute skills needs, or a lack of diversity in the student body, such as teaching and healthcare professions. Entry to tertiary programmes is outside the CAO system, providing an alternate pathway to a degree for individuals who may not have received the requisite points for a course they’re passionate about.

Budget 2025 includes an allocation of over €4.5 billion for my Department. This will allow for a significant increase in funding for higher education, including an additional €50m in core higher education funding from the National Training Fund, with annual increases in core funding from the NTF up to a level of €150 million per year by 2030.

One of this Government’s primary aims in third level education is to make sure that there are a wide range of third level opportunities available for students and a variety of pathways available for those learners who need them – pathways that that provide opportunities for all learners to reach their full potential.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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642. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he continues to liaise with the technical sector in education with a view to ensuring adequate provision in respect of graduates in both areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40292/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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My Department is focused on driving a skills ecosystem and skills agenda in Ireland which is agile and responsive to priority skills needs, including changes in the world of work driven by technology, to ensure Ireland has a skilled and productive workforce.

My Department places a fundamental focus on working with the skills ecosystem, to ensure an adequate pipeline of skills to match business and enterprise needs and requirements in the workplace. The effectiveness and impact of the whole of the tertiary education system is enhanced when education and training provision, as well broader upskilling and reskilling opportunities, are informed by the experience, insights and expertise of the enterprise sector.

Skillnet, the National Skills Council and the Regional Skills Fora network all work closely with my Department to foster engagement, dialogue, and collaboration between the education and training system, the enterprise agencies, and enterprise representatives in relation to skills priorities.

Skillnet, Ireland’s workforce development agency, works closely with companies of all sizes, providing upskilling programmes and business supports to enhance productivity, competitiveness and sustainability for Irish companies and the Irish economy. Skillnet is currently developing a SME Incentivisation scheme that looks to further help small and medium sized enterprises with their reskilling and upskilling needs.

On foot of recommendations made by the OECD in its 2023 Review of Ireland’s Skills Strategy, the National Skills Council, has been reconstituted to act as a platform for strategic engagement between the government, industry, and the social partners. The new Council is now a demand-led model that will work independently to provide the government with strategic advice to adapt and evolve its policies quickly and in tune with the fast-shifting skills requirements of society and the labour market. The new Council will be supported by a High-Level Skills Implementation Group, bringing the important views, inputs and expertise of the “supply” side and the public sector. This new approach will allow us to achieve a step-change in skills, talent and workforce development in Ireland.

The Regional Skills Fora, established in 2016 , bring people together at local and regional level, to identify, interrogate and validate skills needs, and to ensure that employers / enterprise are linked to the right places, to get responses needed, meaning matching of need with provision is taking place on an ongoing basis and in a manner which is highly tailored. The Fora provide hugely valuable bottom-up information and insights, to ensure that we have skills policies and approaches, at national level, which are evidence-informed and serving their purpose.

My Department will continue to collaborate closely with the tertiary education sector, business and enterprise, and indeed all key stakeholders, to evolve and improve in order to meet the changes and challenges of the future world of work, and to leverage the opportunities to shape the economy and society that individuals want and need.