I thank Deputy McGettigan. I understand well the issue that she raises and I share her concern. It is well-placed. I have heard this myself from apprentices out in the field in different locations. I have heard about the challenges they face when they are sometimes placed somewhere far from home and how difficult that is to manage. Finding accommodation, of course, is a big complication as part of that as well. I know the Deputy raised this issue before the committee recently when she was there with SOLAS. I have raised it with SOLAS myself on a number of occasions, including very recently. I have actually asked SOLAS as a starting point to review the current placement and allocation system for apprentices, and then to fix it, and to identify any opportunities for improvement. I have also heard anecdotally from engagement with employers who are taking on many apprentices that there can sometimes be a degree of arbitrariness in the system. Even though there is supposed to be a design and methodology in place, it appears that does not always manifest. This is something I have asked SOLAS to look at and take on. It is worth noting that apprenticeships are national programmes. As with every other post-secondary education route, it is not possible that every programme will be provided in every educational institution. An apprenticeship may be delivered through a particular local ETB but it is actually a national scheme. In our own county of Kildare, which myself and the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach share, farrier apprenticeships are available. They are not available anywhere else, as I understand it, and that is because there is a particular speciality and set of knowledge within Kildare. There are probably exceptions. If people are doing a farrier apprenticeship, Kildare is where they go to do it. There are other skills. Wind turbine maintenance is available on the coast in Tralee, for example. There are other skills that are particular to specific areas. There is also the situation where apprentices are given an offer of a placement and they can decline that if it does not work for them. They can say "No" and then the place will be allocated to the next person on the list to take up. They get up to three refusals.

Sentiment score: 0.10

Again, I agree with the Deputy. Part of the situation is that when an apprentice is offered a place, they are offered the next available place. There is pressure on for good reason. I put that pressure on myself to get as many people trained as quickly as possible. I addressed some of the backlogs that had previously arisen during Covid, etc. As a place becomes available on a particular course, the student will be offered the next available place. That may not be close to home but they do have the option to refuse that place. They can do that up to three times without any consequence in terms of their allocation or their place in the queue. Sometimes, by doing that they can wait and get a place closer to home. Some apprentices come forward and say they are happy to travel because they want to get through their programme and out the far side and increase their earnings, etc., by doing so. Supports are available in particular circumstances as well, particularly for members of the Traveller community, young people from particularly disadvantaged groups and learners from other under-represented groups in further education. There are some targeted schemes and financial supports available to assist in particular circumstances.

Sentiment score: 0.09

The Deputy will be aware that there are allowances available to the apprentices who have to travel. There are various different rates and different bandings depending on whether they are travelling 5, 10 or 20 miles, right up to 40 miles or more. There are different travel allowances available to apprentices to help them in meeting those travel costs. While the issue is a real one, and one which I have asked SOLAS to examine and tackle, there is an induction module for apprentices when they start. Depending on the particular apprenticeship, and I gave the example of the farriers located in Kildare but there are many across the country, it should be known by people entering that these are based in a particular limited location. Equally, some of the larger courses, like those for electricians, plumbers or wood manufacturing, are available more widely and in those cases it is reasonable to expect that a place closer to home would come available. I expect a certain degree on knowledge on the part of the apprentice. Certainly, that should be communicated during the induction stage. Even though there may be a seven-day window to accept or refuse the place, there should have been an awareness of what is likely to arise long before that stage.

Sentiment score: 0.13

I hope the Deputy will agree that value for money is a key component of every State-sponsored project or use of State funds. UCC is an autonomous institution. It manages its own projects and capital and it is responsible for the oversight, planning and management of its capital development plan. The university has a review under way in light of increased construction inflation. The increase in construction costs and materials in recent years has been well ventilated and that has an impact on provision and delivery of various projects. On completion of that review which is currently under way, UCC will submit its capital plan to the governing authority in the coming months; I expect it in the new year. Provision of €25 million was made for the business school in 2019 under the higher education strategic infrastructure fund. Approval in principle was granted in 2019 and the total cost of the project at that time was estimated at €105 million, with a delivery of a 17,000 sq. m custom-built business school on a site on Union Quay being examined. I understand that the university and the governing authority have full intention and full ambition to develop a world-class business school. They are committed to the project. It will advance. However, value for money is a key consideration. Space utilisation and optimisation in the preferred location must be a feature, as must student access and accessibility, synergy and the ability to leverage other parts of the existing campus. There are a number of considerations that are currently being examined in light of this review but I am assured that the ambition and intention remains to deliver a world-class business college of which the city and the college can be very proud. However, I do not expect that it will be the same proposal as has been previously presented.

Sentiment score: 0.30

For clarity, I am not aware of any impact on this particular project as a result of any kind of funding withdrawal or shortfall. It is news to me if that is the case. It has not been raised with me by any of the college authorities or anybody else in the sector other than by way of the Deputy's suggestion today on the floor of the Dáil. As such, it is fair to say it is not a factor here. What is strongly a factor is delivering value for money. I hope the Deputy agrees with me that it is important State funding is used well, wisely and to deliver maximum benefits for the institute and for the student population it serves. The ambition remains to develop a very high-end business school in the ambit of UCC. However, a wise reassessment is taking place of the overall project specifications, scope and cost envelope as part of the capital review plan. I am heartened that the college authorities are doing that. It is a wise approach to the use of State money and the ultimate outcome will be far stronger for it.

Sentiment score: 0.33

The Deputy will have to forgive me for saying I am not entirely sure what she is asking. On the one hand, she is calling for me to spend more money and, on the other, she is talking about being careful with taxpayers' money. I am a little confused as to what her ask is. Value for money is a key consideration. UCC is an autonomous body and a very well-run institution with an extremely competent chair, president and board. They have told me they intend to publish their renewed and revised plans early in the new year and we will then see the shape of the new business college. It certainly will be stronger for the process that has been gone through. Throwing good money after bad would not be wise. Proceeding with a project that, at a specification and cost level, may be far in excess of what is appropriate or necessary would not be a wise move. I am speaking hypothetically but I hope the Deputy agrees with me on that principle. I look forward to UCC publishing its revised plans for the business school in 2026. The university will have my full support for the next steps.

Sentiment score: 0.16

This is a timely question. On 26 November, I launched the new INSPIRE research infrastructure programme, which provides €750 million for capital investment in research infrastructure across the State and all our HEIs. It is a landmark moment for Ireland's national research and innovation system. As I am sure the Deputy has done, I have met with various stakeholders from the higher education system, including deans of research and presidents, and members of the research community, including PhD researchers and students, as well as industry representatives and employers, who ultimately will seek to take up the ideas that emerge from research and employ the skilled graduates who flow from the institutions. INSPIRE will commence early in the new year. It has already been launched and the capital has been secured through the national development plan. It is a successor to the programme for research in third level institutions, PRTLI, which ran in the first decade of the century and was pivotal in sowing the seeds for the very strong research and innovation ecosystem that was built upon it. It withered on the vine to an extent over the past decade or so, having not been renewed since 2010 or 2011. My party promised a new initiative in this area in our manifesto and it was included in the programme for Government. I was particularly pleased to deliver it in our first year in office. Under the overall NDP capital envelope, there is some €4.55 billion for my Department, €2.45 billion of which is being allocated to research and innovation of different hues. The INSPIRE programme has a number of different layers, one of which is to refresh equipment, systems and facilities across the HEIs. That will give them the base layer of equipment they need to perform world-leading, excellent and impactful research. There is another layer for very large-ticket items that are particularly expensive and complex and which one institution may struggle to purchase and manage on its own. The intention is to have a shared infrastructure portal whereby larger items like supercomputers and wire banks can be purchased by one institution and made available to all that want to avail of it. We will have a national management system for that.

Sentiment score: 0.42

I understand the points the Deputy raised. I will be addressing student accommodation in the response to a later question, so I will not duplicate that now. The framework on which the INSPIRE programme is built was developed in collaboration with the sector. In March of this year, I put together an expert working group made up of people from the Irish Universities Association, people with experience of the PRTLI programme and expert academics. We very much looked to the sector to see what it needed and to seek its inputs, suggestions and guidance as to what was missing and what needed to be taken into the next stage. I had some knowledge of that from previous engagements but I wanted to formally engage as part of the exercise to put the programme in place. INSPIRE is very much based upon that expert guidance and it has been very warmly welcomed by the sector. Many of the presidents have been in touch with me directly and many of them attended the recent launch. It is great to be in a position now to be able to do this.

Sentiment score: 0.27

The programme will be delivered in two phases and will be managed by the Higher Education Authority in the first phase and by Research Ireland in the second. The first phase will establish a strategic baseline across the sector such that all investments are grounded in a systematic alignment with the particular university or HEI. It is a competitive fund and not a case of there being one for everyone in the audience. Funding will be awarded based upon excellence and impact, in alignment with the university. Universities are encouraged to put together their own proposals and they will be considered by an expert panel. That panel will be entirely independent and I will not have an involvement in it. The proposals will be peer-reviewed by expert academics who probably will be external to the country. That is how it was done in PRTLI before and it is best practice internationally. In terms of the shared infrastructure, the way it is envisaged to work is this. They are large items with a minimum €500,000 price tag; some may be multiples of that, depending on the item. Again, it would be a competitive call. All universities, effectively, would be invited in to put forward their proposals. There would be a competitive process that would then go into a central portal, which other universities can share it from.

Sentiment score: 0.26

I thank the Deputy. It is something I am focused on and it is in the programme for Government. It is something I have been working on since I took on the position. I am committed to continuing the progress of the technological universities as key drivers of regional and national development. They have fantastic potential and are already realising it. I think I have visited all of them at this stage - multiple sites within some of them. They are a strong regional accelerator in terms of bringing excellence and university education to every corner of the country. Last week, I announced a new targeted investment of €65.8 million for the technological university sector. That is the targeted enhancement fund, TEF. The projects will run over a 36-month period up to December 2028. That fund includes provision for the technological university professorships. The professor grades will be funded through that. There are some approvals required from other parts of the Government, primarily the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers. I am working closely with him to finalise the terms and conditions that will attach to those grades. I am confident of resolving this matter before year's end. We are nearly there now but I have been working on it intensely, particularly in recent weeks. That will be a significant milestone. It will give the technological universities the status they deserve and allow professors to be appointed within them, which is necessary for leadership of research projects, enterprise engagement and a status commensurate with their positioning. I am confident we have made significant progress on this in recent weeks. I hope to be able to announce that and get it brought to a conclusion, with agreement from the Government, before the year's end.

Sentiment score: 0.29

For clarity, I will provide a short recap of the historical position. The original institutes of technology, IoTs, did not have professorial grades. They were amalgamated, largely, to form the technological universities we have now. Within the IoTs, the comparative grade was senior lecturer 3. The scales, grades, bands and job titles did not innately map onto the universities'. In some cases, the legacy job titles, conditions and work programmes did not map either. For example, they did not necessarily work over the summer. In a traditional university, a research professor would have a body of work over the summer months. In an IoT, a senior lecturer would typically finish up at the end of the academic term in May and not return until maybe late September. That is a significant difference. It is not just about giving them a new title, but about looking at their work output, the programmes they take on, enterprise engagement and the leadership role they play in the academic sector and that they are more than capable of playing, but it has to be reflected. That is part of this programme of transition as well.

Sentiment score: 0.18

They are being closely monitored, not least by me. I keep a programme for Government tracker to make sure we make our targets and, as far as possible, get ahead of target in delivering all the items I signed up to deliver at the start of this year. The OECD report is extremely useful in setting out academic career structures, contracts, senior management and leadership structures and the benefits they bring to an organisation, which are well documented and on which we are all in agreement. In terms of the wider development of the technological universities, there have been a number of funding commitments and programmes rolled out in the past year. For example, €90 million over three years has been recently committed to in the transformation fund. The technological university advancement fund has a €50 million envelope over two years. The TU research and innovation supporting enterprise, TU RISE, research programme within the technological universities amounts to €83.68 million. The national technological university transformation for recovery and resilience, N-TUTORR, project has €40 million and there is the targeted enhancement fund, which allows things like project management systems, integrated accounting systems and student record systems to be better integrated across the TUs. They have taken a number of legacy campuses and pulled them together. Part of the funding is to bring them together in an holistic fashion.

Sentiment score: 0.31

I thank the Deputy. I am very aware of the high cost of student accommodation and the burden it places on students, especially those from rural or outlying areas, although it is not limited to them. In my own household, which is in an urban area, my daughter has commuted to UCD for the past couple of years and it was not a short commute, despite the fact we are not terribly far away from the college geographically. There is an additional financial burden on students who have to make that commute or cannot secure accommodation. The student accommodation strategy 2025-2035 will set out Ireland's national policy to support access to appropriate housing and accommodation for students. Through the strategy, I am committed to expanding supports that directly address affordability pressures on students, especially for those who need it most. In budget 2026, for example, I secured an additional €10.5 million to increase all non-adjacent maintenance grants under the student grant scheme by at least €200 - in most cases by more. That means all grants for people who are non-adjacent, which means they live 30 km or more from the college, have increased, and in some cases significantly. That is to reflect the fact that those students have an additional financial burden because they are travelling or having to pay for rent or accommodation. Some 30,000 students can avail of that. The 30 km figure is down from 45 km, so that support is available to more students than ever before. My Department also provides measures such as the 1916 bursary and the student assistance fund to students with particular socioeconomic difficulties. I was pleased to announce today that I was increasing the student assistance fund again for the coming year by over €10.2 million. It is a discretionary fund available through the welfare officers in the colleges to support students with a range of additional costs and expenses. That will now stand at €19.3 million for this academic year, which is a record high. In fact, it even exceeds the amount awarded only last year. I am committed to continuing those supports, targeting supports at people who need them most, and making sure the cost of college is mitigated as far as it can be by support from the Department.

Sentiment score: 0.22

I wish to confirm and restate that the maintenance grants have increased significantly in some cases, particularly those on the non-adjacent rungs of the grant system. That is something that is very important to me and that I was very determined to be able to do. As well as that, there is additional support for students with disabilities and mental health challenges. The thresholds have increased to the highest ever level, to the extent that 80% of households are now eligible for at least some form of grant support. Of course, the student fee itself has been permanently discounted by €500 from the base figure I inherited at the start of this year. These are all positive steps. The technological sector student accommodation programme is a particular accommodation package within the technological universities. Feasibility studies were performed over the past two years and the technological universities were invited to submit proposals, which they have done. The preliminary business cases will be examined in the new year to consider those projects and where they go next. I will come back in the next round.

Sentiment score: 0.34

I am glad the Deputy mentioned the rent a room scheme because that is an important tax relief that is available. Householders can earn up to €14,000 per year tax free by renting rooms to students. It has also been extended to local authority tenants, and at the end of last month, over 5,200 rent a room student beds were on offer in higher education institutions across the country, so that is a very significant measure. In regard to the stock that is on hand, the Deputy mentioned the level of delivery in her opening question. One issue that is of concern to me is that there are almost 15,000 student beds that have planning permission but have not actually moved to construction. We need to look at the reasons that might be the case. A lot of that comes from viability. I refer to things like the VAT reduction on new apartment building. We will look at the procurement supports that are there and measures we can use to stimulate. Where appropriate, there is funding in the system to make serviced sites available where colleges have sites. They can be encouraged to put them to use for student accommodation to try to get some of those 15,000 beds, and a lot more, unlocked and progressed.

Sentiment score: 0.31