I thank the Deputy for her ongoing interest in the further and higher education sectors. The Deputy is right there is a need to revisit some of the operational parameters of the LTIs. LTIs are community-based training programmes designed to support individuals who face economic, social or educational disadvantage. This is incredibly important work. The training programmes offered are tailored to meet specific local needs, ensuring relevance and impact within their communities which they serve. They are also independent organisations. They have their own independent boards of directors. The relationship with their grantors, the ETBs, is governed by the Department of public expenditure guidelines Circular 13/14 entitled, Management of and Accountability for Grants from Exchequer Funds. That circular guides the management, accountability and reporting of public funds allocated through grants. It applies to all bodies receiving such grants, including agencies, charities and other entities. The operational guidelines also apply and were developed by SOLAS in 2013. A need to update those guidelines has been identified. Education and Training Boards Ireland, ETBI, is currently work on such a project leading the development of new operational guidelines to manage the relationship between ETBs and grant-funded organisations that provide education and training. I have recently written to SOLAS seeking an update on that work to see where it is at with that because it is an important piece of work. The guidelines need revisiting at this stage. I expect those updated guidelines will be published in the coming months. I hope to be in a position to receive that further update following my correspondence with SOLAS. I hope it will be soon as well. It is part of a substantial work programme to make sure all of systems of processes are fit for purpose and up to date and that there is robust governance with public funds but also sufficiently versatile and flexible to deliver for the end user and ultimately the people using the services, and indeed providing the services. I agree with the Deputy. It is under way. I have recently corresponded with SOLAS on it. It needs to be done.
Sentiment score: 0.21
I will share some of the processes that are under way under the ETBI's direction. The new operational guidelines should encompass at least but not limited to the following objectives. They should simplify the grant management relationship between ETB and third-party providers. It is complex. One thing I have learned in this role is that particularly the further education landscape is complex and labyrinthine at times. There are many different organisations, including voluntary, community and statutory, interworking and intertwining with each other. It is not always simple to navigate those frameworks. We need to simplify those relationships. We also need to streamline the approval and claims structure that applies to them. We need to provide clearer accountability lines. The Deputy referred to the transparency. I agree that accountability is very important. The role of the individual ETBs in relation to oversight, monitoring and reporting needs to be clarified and made clear. The grantee's responsibility in relation to daily operations - that goes to some of things that the Deputy is talking about - and staffing are important. As always with public funds, the independence and the proper usage of those funds have to be paramount as well. There are number of things that need to be looked at, but those are the kind categories that the ETBI are currently working towards with the review of the guidelines.
Sentiment score: 0.22
There is always a degree of autonomy within the educational landscape, be it further or higher education. The Minister of State did correspond with the Department and the relevant bodies in terms of pay scales and around community training centres and youth reach centres, but the Department is not the employer. There is a remove. There can be several stages in that remove. It is not direct reporting lines. I would liken it to more of a dotted reporting line in some cases. These are all things that would benefit from clarity and some reorganisation or certainly some visibility of the different structures that pertain. I am not going to comment much on the pay side because there are various Labour Court recommendations that are being worked through. They are being funded through my Department, but that is an ongoing piece of work. There have been some significant increases. For example, the CTC staff were awarded a 5% pay increase from recent Labour Court findings. That is progress.
Sentiment score: 0.15
Is the Deputy subbing for Deputy Kenny?
Sentiment score: 0.00
No, I know the difference between Wexford and Kilkenny very well and all too well from suffering at their hands for many years in Leinster finals.
Sentiment score: -0.13
I am a strong supporter of this project as I think and hope the Deputy and other Wexford stakeholder know. I share ambition of the region and Wexford town, in particular, to develop a customised significant third level campus in Wexford town. The educational needs, level of educational attainment, industrial base and the demographics all support that strongly. I am very much on board with that. The proposal to develop that Wexford campus is being progressed under the technological sector strategic projects fund. It is a particular within the Department to assist the technological universities with putting together these types of proposals. On the engagement I have had on it, I met with the president, Professor Veronica Campbell, and the chair, Professor Patrick Prendergast, of SETU in July in my office in Government Buildings. I also met with the president, Professor Campbell, again in late August on the matter. I have had ongoing engagements with the HEA, both directly and through my officials. They will be ongoing. My message to all of them has been of encouragement and that I am keen to see this project move along through the different stages. As the Deputy knows very well being on the ground, it has not always been straight forward. There has been a site identified by Wexford County Council. It is in the region of 48.5 acres. There was a proposal for the council to compulsory purchase order, CPO, that land. That became complicated. There were challenges to it. Those have thankfully fallen away through the court system. However, the latest is that a sum has to be agreed in terms of what the purchase price is going to be. That is ongoing. There is a risk that if it cannot be agreed, it could be referred to arbitration, but my understanding is that has not happened, and the negotiations are proceeding. I will not say that they are going well because I do not know. However, I have not been told that they are going badly. That is under way. I expect that to be completed in the near future.
Sentiment score: 0.13
SETU, in terms of technological universities, has received significant support from my Department. Most recently both Waterford and Carlow were included in bundle two of the PPP projects delivering significant additional learning spaces and physical buildings. The Deputy and I want Wexford to benefit from the same. The next stage of the process is for the notice of entry to enter onto the lands, which would give Wexford County Council the right to take possession of the site. Ordinarily that takes place after the compensation amount has been agreed - in other words, when the price has been agreed. It can then move to notice of entry. That allows it to go on site and begin to make further plans. I am told that SETU requires access to the site to finalise the masterplan. It said that without access to the site there is a limit to how far it can go with its detailed designs. It has a submitted a preliminary business case for the infrastructure, but it has caveated that by saying there is a need for it to go on site, enter the site and walk the land to get a better handle on it and finalise that. The next step of notice of entry rests with Wexford County Council. It may not wish to serve it until the price is agreed and things are finalised because it will become liable for interest from the minute it issues that. I can understand why there might be some hesitation but if Wexford County Council moves that forward, then everything else begins to progress.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I absolutely support the project and have made that very clear to the executive and all stakeholders. In terms of funding from my Department, we have a confirmed budget to purchase our part of the site. There is a masterplan for other things as well but certainly the funding is there for the educational piece. The business case is progressing. However, the decision on when to serve the notice of entry, which is what is causing the frustration and possibly the delays, is for Wexford County Council to make.
Sentiment score: 0.16
The Deputy has good offices in Wexford town himself. He has agency, a relationship with the county manager and so forth. I do not know how usual it would be for a Minister to engage with a local authority to ask it to accelerate a CPO process. It is probably better that I continue to work on the educational piece and local representatives like Deputy Lawlor can engage with the council. I agree that it needs to happen but I also understand that public money is at stake and the council needs to be satisfied with the finally agreed figure before it enters the site. It is in all of our interests to move this project forward as quickly as possible.
Sentiment score: 0.44
The strategy to which the Deputy refers is the National Student Accommodation Strategy 2017-2024, which was the first national strategy of its kind. The aims of that strategy were to meet rising student housing demand, ease pressure on the private rental market and, ultimately, increase the supply of purpose-built student accommodation, PBSA. Two key goals were set out, the first of which was to deliver 7,000 new PBSA beds by 2019. That goal was met. In fact, it was exceeded, with over 8,000 beds completed by the end of that year, or 1,000 beds ahead of the target. The second target was to add an additional 21,000 new PBSA beds to the existing stock of 33,500 by 2024. That target was 91% delivered. Roughly 49,000 beds were delivered out of a goal of approximately 54,000. The reasons for falling 9% short of the target include factors like Brexit, Covid, the Ukraine war, inflation, global supply chains and the Suez crisis. I do not think any of us would disagree that the years 2021 to 2023 were challenging for the entire economy but particularly for construction and supply chains. I looked into this issue myself and in the context of everything that happened in those years, achieving 91% of the target is not bad. Looking forward, I am actively pursuing a new student accommodation strategy, which I hope to publish later this year, that will look at a number of items related to student accommodation. The Deputy asked why it was not mentioned in the budget speeches. I was surprised to hear that because in my own budget 2026 speech, I talked about additional moneys for maintenance grants for non-adjacent students, with a particular focus on those students who are travelling or paying rent. I mentioned that very specifically. The Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, also specifically referenced student accommodation in his speech on budget day. I do not quite understand why the Deputy made that suggestion because I checked both speeches and we both spoke to the issue.
Sentiment score: 0.08
On the short-term activation programme, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, did indeed reference it, as have I several times. We have 116 new beds delivered in Maynooth, which are now open at Teach Ui Buachalla or Buckley House. I approved funding of €67 million just last month and turned the sod at UCD for its new accommodation project, which will deliver 493 new beds. As I already mentioned, I also significantly increased all four bands of the maintenance grant for non-adjacent students to reflect the extra pressures. We have also extended the rent tax credit for a further three years and that will make some difference to student affordability. One of the issues here is planning and getting projects through the planning process. I completely agree with the Deputy that we are in crisis, to use her words, and that we need as much student accommodation delivered as possible. In that context, I would ask her to speak to her own party councillors, including Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair in the Blackpitts area of Dublin, who recently announced to his constituents his opposition to student accommodation developments. It is very unhelpful, in a situation where I am trying to build as much student accommodation as possible, to have local Sinn Féin councillors opposing developments. I have written to Deputy McGettigan's party leader, Deputy McDonald, about this but she has not replied to me to date. I do not know what her position or that of the Sinn Féin party is on this. Deputy McGettigan might clarify that for us today.
Sentiment score: 0.15
The overall figure of €100 million was indeed announced but individual projects required ministerial approval. I sanctioned UCD very recently and was glad to do so. DCU has a project that is currently under evaluation with the HEA. Trinity College also has a project that has undergone due diligence and is progressing through the system. There are some other projects which are at different stages. In terms of the technological university sector, funding was given to that sector to accelerate its student accommodation programme and to assist with logistical issues and formulate proposals. A borrowing framework to allow technological universities to finance such developments or to access finance for same is a work in progress. That will all be contained in the student accommodation strategy. Ultimately, this comes down to two things, viability and affordability. We need to increase supply and encourage investment and ensure that students can actually afford to rent the units when purchased. In the finance Bill there are some measures around VAT on apartments and I have engaged with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to ensure that those measures would apply equally to student accommodation. I already mentioned the tax credit on rental payments. It is a complex area but a combination of measures is being adopted.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I thank the Deputy. I welcome the opportunity to make a few remarks on this issue. I hope it is well understood, but I will restate it, that the starting point for this year's budget was that no provision was made for a continual reduction of student fees. There was a once-off measure in last year's budget, which did not carry over to the following year. It was once-off funding that was there during the cost-of-living crisis. It was understandable at times of extreme pressure that this was advanced but I was determined when I came into the Department and was raising my first budget to put measures on a permanent, sustainable costed basis. That was in the Department baseline. That would be repeated year on year and we would avoid the uncertainty and anxiety of students and families every summer wondering if the Government would or would not do this. With that, I have managed to achieve a €500 permanent reduction in student fees, starting this year. That is accompanied by targeted measures such as increasing maintenance grants at all levels of non-adjacency from the special rate up, increasing the thresholds so that more people than ever before are now eligible for grant support, additional moneys for students with disabilities and into mental health support, and a variety of other new measures targeted to give the most support to those who need it most. We now have a situation where households earning up to €120,000 can benefit from some form of fee support or grant support. Indeed, many students have their fees paid in full already. It is worth saying that under the system, which is a means-tested and progressive system, families with low incomes or those at risk of poverty should not be paying any fees at all. If they are, something has gone wrong. I have invited any individual circumstances to be brought to my attention and we can investigate what might be going on there. Fees are a challenge for middle and higher income families. I absolutely accept that. That is why I have cut fees by €500 this year and raised the threshold to €120,000 so that a family on €119,000 will now have a €500 fee permanent cut and a €500 fee grant, meaning that they are paying €2,000 this year, the same as they did last year. I will come back to the Deputy with supplementary comments.
Sentiment score: 0.06
To summarise, grants have increased, thresholds have increased, student supports have increased and student fees have come permanently down. That is progress. This is the first budget of a term. I repeat that low-income families and households at risk of poverty should not be paying fees at all. While I absolutely understand that fees are an issue for the squeezed middle, those households at risk of poverty to which the Deputy refers should not be paying fees at all. That is another reason we have continued to raise the thresholds and, indeed, to pay fees. The Deputy asked in her written question what assessment was carried out. That is a question I also asked earlier this year and I have commissioned a piece of research. It is really important that we understand the impact of interventions. There is very little research in this area but there is a very useful paper by an academic by Kevin Denny in the department of economics at the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy. It sets out the impact of the free fees initiative and what it means and how it helps. Ultimately it concludes, unfortunately, that if the goal was to lift more people out of poverty and provide educational equality, it did not do that. It actually gave an additional bonus to the middle classes by allowing them to spend money on grinds and private schools etc. instead. There is a policy discussion around that and I have commissioned a piece of research on that, which I will share and publish when it is received.
Sentiment score: 0.11
For clarity, I am absolutely not talking about bringing in extra fees. Fees will only go down on my watch. To be crystal clear, fees will go in one direction, and that is down, as long as I am in office. However, it is important to discuss the academic work and the research that has been done. That is what the Deputy asked about in her question. She asked what assessments had been carried out. I put an assessment before her. She does not like it. That is fine but she cannot ask the question and then not like the answer. If she has access to other research or assessments, I would welcome it if she wanted to share them with me. I will take them on board. There is a dearth of assessment on this issue and a very limited set of publications. Those that do exist would suggest that targeted measures are preferable to universal measures in getting money to people who need it most, namely, the low income families and the working class families the Deputy mentioned. If we were to do more on fees this year, in the scope of a limiting pot of money and a limited pool of resources, we could not have done other things. Is the Deputy suggesting I should not have not increased maintenance grants and thresholds, should not have put money into students with disabilities and student supports and instead did a bit more on fees for higher and middle income earners? I am not sure if that is her position. If it is, I would be interested in hearing about it. I believe we have tried to do both. It is what we call progressive universalism, which people like Gordon Brown have espoused. I subscribe to it myself. We tried to do both. We have a twin track whereby we have given universal supports to everybody but we then layer that on top of targeted measures that activate people who would not otherwise access education.
Sentiment score: 0.05
Freagróidh mé an cheist i nGaeilge, ach ós rud é nach bhfuil mo chuid Gaeilge chomh láidir is atá Gaeilge an Teachta Connolly, freagróidh mé aon cheist bhreise i mBéarla. Is prionsabal bunúsach inár gcóras oideachais é go bhfuil leibhéal ard neamhspleáchais ag institiúidí ardoideachais. Ní féidir leis an Rialtas a rá leo cad é atá le teagasc ná an chaoi le dul i mbun teagaisc. Ina áit sin, oibríonn an córas ar bhonn freagrúlachta do riachtanais agus éilimh i gcomhthéacs an chreata maidir le córas feidhmíochta an Údaráis um Ard-Oideachas. Cinntíonn mo Roinn go dtuigeann an earnáil tosaíochtaí náisiúnta. Tacaíonn sí le hinstitiúidí ardoideachais a n-oibleagáidí maidir le húsáid agus cur chun cinn na Gaeilge a chomhlíonadh agus oibríonn sí i gcomhpháirtíocht chun dul i ngleic le baic ar dhul chun cinn. Chuige sin, tacaíonn mo Roinn le hinstitiúidí ardoideachais, tríd an Údarás um Ard-Oideachas, trí bhunmhaoiniú a sholáthar, mar aon le maoiniú ar leith chun tacú le tionscnaimh Ghaeilge. Mar sin féin, is gá níos mó a dhéanamh chun tacú le teagasc agus stádas na Gaeilge, go háirithe i gcomhthéacs na sprice gur cainteoirí Gaeilge a bheidh in 20% d'earcaigh nua sa tseirbhís phoiblí. The Teachta will be aware of the targets. Ní mór don obair sin a bheith ag teacht le cuspóirí an phlean náisiúnta um sheirbhísí poiblí Gaeilge. Chuige sin, tá treoir tugtha agam do m'oifigigh dul i mbun oibre go gníomhach ar fud an Rialtais chun an obair sin a chur chun cinn. Ciallóidh sé sin, ar dtús, nach mór dul i gcomhar leis an Roinn Oideachais agus Óige chun scrúdú a dhéanamh ar aistriú scoláirí ó iarbhunscoileanna lán-Ghaeilge go dtí an tríú leibhéal.
Sentiment score: -0.30
Yes. The Welsh example is interesting. I attended the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly on Monday outside London in Surrey, and engaged with members of the Welsh Parliament and we discussed apprenticeships as Gaeilge and apprenticeships in the Welsh language. It was one of the topics we engaged on. The Deputy is right that the Welsh have made a success of it. Ach tuigim an fhadhb sa tír sin and I am aware of the issues the Deputy raises. One of the points he made is the percentage of students in Irish universities being less than 1%, perhaps. That figure has been suggested. It is hard to verify a figure. My officials tell me that determining the number of students studying Irish at third level can be challenging because Irish is offered as an optional component on many programmes. It is therefore not necessarily a full programme through the Irish medium; it could be Irish as a component of another programme or elective module. There could be many students who are líofa participating in courses but just not pursuing them through Irish. I agree, however, that we need to do more and I absolutely agree to do that. We need to work towards the targets. As the Teachta has rightly said, the number of students coming through the coláistí, the Gaelscoileanna, the naíonraí, etc., needs to be reflected at third level.
Sentiment score: 0.16
I do not disagree at all. The Deputy mentioned University of Galway and a seminar that was there over the summer. It has some work under way with the Higher Education Authority and my Department on demand for Irish courses. The HEA is engaged in using the university as the lead on it to research the demand for Irish-language courses in third level institutions to inform the planning, development and offering of such courses. There have been some initiatives such as "mo thráchtas i mbeagán focal", the three-minute thesis competition, which launched this autumn. It invites postgraduate students to present their research in three minutes, using one slide, as Gaeilge. That is promoting the use of language in postgraduate studies but we need a lot more than that. That is one welcome initiative but I agree that we need to go further. I am committed to exploring this, taking it further and advancing it. The Welsh model is certainly one we can look at and learn from. I am happy to take that away and engage with the Deputy further on it.
Sentiment score: 0.26