I thank the Deputy for her question. Was that Question No. 3?
Sentiment score: 0.02
I thank the Deputy for her question and interest in the area. She is her party's spokesperson in this area and I wish her well in that role. I look forward to working with her across the floor in the coming years. Regarding students who are considered to be dependent at the age of 23, this is part of the wider student grant system and scheme, which is kept under continuous review. Every year, the Department publishes an options paper that sets out costed reforms and changes to the scheme. I am currently engaged in that process and have had several stakeholder events, including meeting students' unions and other interested parties. I intend to publish a paper later this year before the budget on this which will inform public and political debate on what options should be prioritised. There are many different parameters and moving parts. When you change one, it has a knock-on effect on another. I look forward to a discussion, informed by the options paper, as to what are the appropriate measures and how we make them. In examining changes to eligibility criteria, which this question is about, I must consider how a change might impact on a particular cohort when compared with the demands of other cohorts and across the rest of the sector. I must also have regard for the availability of resources in the Estimates process. In general, for student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on their parents or legal guardians, or as independent mature students. A student may be assessed as an independent student if they have attained the age of 23 on 1 January of the year of first entry or re-entry to an approved further education course or an approved higher education course and if they have not been ordinarily resident with their parents from the previous 1 October. Otherwise, they are assessed as a dependent student which means they are assessed with reference to parental income. Applicants who do not meet the criteria to be assessed as an independent student for grant purposes or who cannot supply the necessary documentation to establish independent living for the required period may still apply to the awarding authority, SUSI, to have their grant eligibility assessed as a dependent student. More than €351 million has been allocated in 2025 to student grants to aid access to education. That student grant scheme has recently been expanded-----
Sentiment score: 0.29
-----with increasing thresholds. We will come back to that later.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I am aware of the issue which has been raised with me by the student unions and I have come across this in my review of the different schemes. It is fair to ask and test this to see what is appropriate. The Deputy mentioned that one of the families she had been in contact with had stated the difficulty in assessing and establishing that independence. Documentation accepted by SUSI includes: a letter confirming the address is registered with the RTB, if they are renting a property; a local authority lease agreement or a letter to confirm they are renting under the RAS scheme; a letter on headed paper from a rental agency confirming the tenancy - these are all in situations where the individual is living outside the family home; a letter to confirm the receipt of rental allowance; or a utility bill in the applicants name - this could be something like a phone bill, broadband bill, gas bill, utility bill, etc. Those items can be submitted as evidence that a student is living apart. The real difficulty arises in some cases where they are not living apart; they are living at the family home but are estranged and may not have the opportunity to move out, although they may wish to. I accept this is not straightforward and these are the issues we must examine in the options paper to see what is appropriate. It may not be appropriate to give a blanket exemption because this may not be a good use of resources but it is something on which we need to strike the right balance.
Sentiment score: 0.10
The Deputy might call it a bureaucratic checklist but I am sure she would also agree public moneys should be carefully managed. It would not be appropriate to have a free-for-all where we do not need any proof or documentation and anyone who applies can get appropriate payments. I imagine the Deputy would agree this would not be appropriate either. If we accept that neither extreme is a good place to be, then we must find the point in the middle, that is, the level of documentation and support that is required and appropriate. That is the way with every use of public moneys and every type of grant scheme right across the different Departments. That is the way it has always been and should be. The question is to find a balance that is not overly onerous or unreasonably attainable which safeguards the underlying resources that are ultimately available to other students and families and must be managed in that regard. There are other funds in addition to SUSI that are available for students who might be in financial difficulty. We have the student assistance fund to support students both full time and part time for different exceptional needs. We have PATH 5 which is a new access pathway into third level education, particularly for Traveller or Roma communities. We also have accommodation and grants for students in disadvantaged areas. There is a number of different funds which can support students in difficulties even beyond the SUSI system.
Sentiment score: 0.20
To answer the Deputy's second question, yes, I will commit to increasing funding in education. I have announced that already and brought this before Cabinet where I secured approval to do so. The National Training Fund is a €1.485 billion pot of moneys which is collected through employer levies to support training and educational needs. There is a need for legislation to unlock that fund because the fund, as it is currently construed, has a particular set of categories under which it can be spent. I wish to broaden them to include core funding for the higher education institutions among other things. This requires a minor legislative change but that is a Bill I intend to bring before the Houses this year. I am currently working on drafting heads of Bill with my Department and legal teams. I secured Cabinet approval for that recently. That will mean an additional €150 million per annum will be included in the core funding to universities, which is a really significant move. This, of course, stems from the Funding the Future framework, which was published in May 2022. It followed the Cassells report from a few years earlier, which identified options available to put higher education on a sustainable footing and examining different options for our core funding for the universities. That is now progressing. It is in the programme for Government and is a commitment we have made. It is something I have already advanced in my first few months in office and, as I said, I have Cabinet approval to now progress that further through legislation, which I hope to bring before the Houses at the earliest opportunity.
Sentiment score: 0.32
I agree with Deputy Cummins. We are very much on the same page on this. With regard to talent from abroad, I want Ireland to be a welcome place for scholars but that includes supporting our own - the people already here - and attracting more. The best-in-class research and innovation, STEM and humanities studies all work best when people collaborate at every level, including internationally, so that we have a fusion of the best minds. It is not recognising borders, barriers or arbitrary rules that other jurisdictions might be currently raising, which I do not agree with. We must be that safe haven and promote independent thought, academic freedom and integrity. As well as it being the right thing to do, there is a significant economic uplift to that. We see money spent on research and innovation, for example, usually has a 5:1 return. I visited the CÚRAM research centre at the University of Galway last week. It has achieved a 12:1 return. For every euro the State is spending, therefore, €12 is being recouped in terms of the wider economic impact of the research and the economic benefits of it. We should do it for its own sake but it also produces demonstrable returns for investment in education and research.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I thank the Deputy. I intend for the funding to support the entire sector. The Deputy mentioned some figures. I would also be a bit concerned by the current level of our research and development spending as a percentage of GDP. We need to increase that. The private sector is spending a lot, so public sector spending needs to increase. That will be reflected in what I am hoping to achieve through the national development plan, in terms of increased infrastructural spending across the research and education ecosystems, further and higher education and the entire tapestry. That is the building block that everything else is based on, if we have those systems right. It is part of the wider base and I will elaborate on that further over the coming months, but I intend to use the national development plan as part of the springboard for those projects.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I appreciate the Deputy raising this important issue, as the mental health and well-being of our third level students is a matter of deep concern and ongoing priority for this Government. The Government and my Department remain committed to enhancing mental health supports across the sector. My Department has allocated a total of €32 million to support higher education institutions in meeting the mental health and well-being needs of students since 2020. This funding supports institutions in directly meeting the needs of students through counselling services as well as delivering the national student mental health and suicide prevention framework. As autonomous institutions, the exact disbursement of the funding is a matter for each institution depending on its own prioritisation of needs. They are entitled to do this because they are independent from the perspectives of management and governance. They have been advised to distribute the funding in support of specific student-facing areas, such as the recruitment of additional student counsellors and assistant psychologists, head of service posts, training and awareness raising. We can offer advice, but they ultimately retain discretion over how the funding is allocated. The majority of new posts created through this funding have been counsellors, reflecting the capacity-building phase of the implementation of the framework. Over recent years, there has been a mixture of core funding and once-off Covid support funding, but as of 2020, €5 million annually is being allocated on a recurrent, sustainable basis. I mentioned that over that time, €32 million has been allocated. Institutions can also draw resources from other areas within their overall Exchequer and other funding sources. A number of other funds are available to them, which I might return to later because there is quite a list. I will refer to those when I hear where the Deputy's next question is going.
Sentiment score: 0.18
Some examples of the types of projects being supported through that funding include the national student counselling database implementation project. This facilitates the identification of trends in the mental health needs of students attending student counselling services. It measures and monitors what trends are coming through from access to counselling services and identifies areas for further attention. There is a platform called Togetherall, which provides 24-7 peer support. Psychological counsellors in Higher Education Ireland are being supported in their work, through the higher education institutions. Research and co-ordination around suicide and self-harm is being performed on an ongoing basis. A screening tool that is being developed selects the most appropriate person-centric interventions for students with mental health presentations. This tracks the well-being outcomes of students who engage with the service. A national health and well-being assessment tool has been developed to enable institutions to implement and progress the healthy campus charter and framework. There is also an ongoing review of the national student mental health and suicide prevention framework. A lot of actions are being taken and a lot of good projects are under way. These are meaningful and impactful for the individual students, as well as for the host institutions. Ultimately, the institutions retain autonomy as to what other projects they may wish to implement.
Sentiment score: 0.16
If we consider some of the ratios, one counsellor for every 1,000 students was the suggestion from the International Accreditation of Counseling Services, IACS, to which the Deputy referred. There are different views about that report as to whether that is the optimal way to measure ability and whether that is the right metric but I certainly note what the Deputy is saying. The national student mental health and suicide prevention framework, which I mentioned, has identified that in an Irish context, there remains a need to develop a public indicator. The questions are what the correct indicator for us in this system is and how we can manage and ensure that adequate provision is being made for different students. This work is ongoing with the HEA at the moment to see what an appropriate metric in our system is. Regarding the retention rate, there are many reasons for students dropping out. Mental health may often be one but there is a variety of other reasons. The non-progression rate fell slightly in 2021-22, from 13% to 11%. I do not have the figures for the most recent years but it is beginning to go in the right direction. There can be complex reasons that students do not progress. It is not only to do with mental health.
Sentiment score: 0.02
I had the pleasure of visiting the University of Galway last week. I met the chair, the president and the students' union and we had a good discussion on this and many other matters. I admired the fine quadrangle and had the opportunity to inspect some of the research projects around the campus as well. It was a really worthwhile visit to see the really good work being done there. Regarding student accommodation provision, access is a central concern. Access and supports are important to ensure that students can avail of higher level education and that they can do so in a way that does not involve long commutes or living in cramped accommodation, which will be an enabler to them. I am very aware that these are barriers for many students. One of the most significant barriers students face today is the cost and availability of accommodation, if they can get it in the first place. My focus is on delivering targeted and effective interventions that promote equitable access to higher education across the country. This means addressing the challenges that may prevent students from progressing to or through third level education because of the difficulties outlined. Four key tools are being deployed to address student accommodation. The first is the development of a standardised design approach to improve efficiency and reduce costs. That is something my Department is working on and I will publish it this summer. The intention is to have a standard design akin to the second level school programme. The second tool is the use of enhanced supply and demand data to inform planning and investment decisions, so we can see the different patterns in different regions. The third is the technological sector student accommodation programme to support regionally balanced, institution-specific delivery models. That is under way as a separate programme. The fourth tool is a national student accommodation survey, which is designed to capture the lived experiences and needs of students across the country. We might well guess some of the issues and hear from our constituents and from representations made to us by various bodies, but the survey will have an empirical analysis that will better inform demands in this area, where the pressure zones are and what needs to be applied in different areas. We will continue to work with universities and other higher education institutions. I intend to publish the student accommodation strategy later this year.
Sentiment score: 0.26
Yes.
Sentiment score: 0.40
We are probably veering into questions for the Minister for housing rather than me. I am not aware of the seven-storey buildings the Deputy talks about. There are already 1,891 purpose-built student accommodation beds on campus in the University of Galway. The latest figures tell us the university accommodation is oversubscribed, however, as it has received more applications per bed than there are beds available. Additional accommodation beds were provided last year in Dunlin Village. The Deputy may be familiar with it. It provides 674 purpose-built student accommodation beds. In Queen Street, 300 new beds are being developed. The most recent data from last month tells me that 1,739 new purpose-built student accommodation beds have been built in Galway in the recent past. Student accommodation beds are being provided but I want to see more of them, or as many as can be introduced into the system through public and private channels, so that we have a good supply of accommodation to students and a good choice available to meet the very evident demand. It is worth noting that, as of this week, 71 beds are being advertised on the rent-a-room scheme. Digs accommodation is still a very popular option that many take up. There are currently 71 beds available in Galway.
Sentiment score: 0.11
It is not unusual for student accommodation to be used for other purposes during the summer months. Most of the higher education institutions do that themselves. It is part of the challenge of finding a solution. I want to see the maximum available beds for student accommodation based on a formula that works, first and foremost, for students. Many of the higher education institutions look to use student accommodation as a revenue-raising tool in the summer months, and I understand they are financing their activities on that basis. Ultimately, the focus should be on the student. Deputy Connolly mentioned ATU a couple of times. ATU Galway is participating in the technological sector student accommodation programme. The overall standardised design is a work in progress and there is an overall strategy. There is already a stand-alone TU sector student accommodation programme and ATU Galway is part of that. In terms of the submissions that are being made, the HEIs usually drive projects that come to the HEA and my Department for approval. They are considered and any submissions made will be advanced. I am very keen to address this because I am conscious that it is a real issue for many students.
Sentiment score: 0.16