Clerk to the Committee:

In the unavoidable absence of the Chair, I now seek nominations for the role of temporary Chair.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I nominate Deputy Jim O'Callaghan.

Clerk to the Committee:

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Apologies have been received from the Cathaoirleach, Deputy Paul Kehoe, and from Deputies Mairéad Farrell and Sorca Clarke. I ask members to turn off their mobile phones. This meeting has been convened to consider the Supplementary Estimate - Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, which was referred to this committee by the Dáil. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and his officials and thank them for the briefing document. I invite the Minister of State to make his opening statement.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the committee members for the opportunity to speak to them this afternoon to present the 2024 Supplementary Estimates for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. My officials have provided briefing material to the secretariat of the committee, which hopefully will be of assistance to members.

This Estimate provides for a net increase of €252 million to bring the overall allocation for our Department to €4.5 billion in 2024. This represents an increase of 6% on our Revised Estimates allocation and provides for the following measures: €116 million for once-off cost-of-living measures to provide immediate and tangible relief for apprentices, undergraduates and postgraduate students against the challenges of rising costs. These supports include a €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for the free fees initiative; a one third reduction in the contribution fee for apprentices in higher education benefitting about 14,000 apprentices; a once-off €1,000 increase to the post-graduate tuition fee contribution grant; and an increase to the student assistance fund of over €10 million. These are significant, impactful changes that will help to address the cost-of-living issues facing students.

A sum of €107 million is provided for public sector pay and pension costs. This includes funding of the pay agreement approved by Government in February 2024, additional Building Momentum pay costs in the higher education sector and increased pension costs in the technological university sector. Some €20 million has been allocated to respond to increased training demands in the further education and training sector including apprenticeships. Finally, €9 million has been allocated for the continuation of education supports to Ukrainian students in Ireland. These supports include English language teaching, payment of tuition fees and a monthly stipend for Ukrainian students in higher education.

In addition, as part of the Supplementary Estimate, this Department has also processed some technical adjustments, including additional expenditure costs in 2024 which were offset by savings arising on the Vote. I trust that this overview is of assistance to the committee. I am happy to take members' questions and I commend the Supplementary Estimate to the committee.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I do not think there will be too many questions. One thing that Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan and I were pleased to see was that €116 million was going to be set for once-off cost-of-living measures for students. We had the Union of Students in Ireland before the committee earlier in the week. Cost-of-living challenges are a big issue for third level students. Is that the purpose behind the €116 million?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, absolutely. The €116 million in the main goes towards the €1,000 reduction in the student registration charge. I think it is fair to say we have to keep in context the fact that over the lifetime of this Government, we have done a lot of work to reform the SUSI grant system. We have increased thresholds and grant amounts. We also made technical adjustments to the scheme in terms of the adjacency rates. We widened the SUSI net to capture more people, which is a good thing to do, particularly in light of the rising cost of attending college. That is a job of work which we have done step by step over a number of budgets. It has increased the number of people who can avail of SUSI supports. The drop in the registration fee is something we flag every year as a year-on-year decision; no permanent decision has yet been taken on that. I am sure it is a challenge which the next Government will have to consider. We have had that decrease for a number of years, year-on-year.

I take every opportunity I can to highlight the student assistance fund. It is in the order of €18 million or €19 million year-on-year since this Department came into being in 2020. Each of our higher education institutions would have about €1 million available locally to help students who find themselves in exceptional, unforeseen circumstances where they need to avail of financial assistance. The real positive aspect of this is that it is managed locally by the student services offices. The student services people can deal with students on the front line, face to face. They know them and will have local knowledge. The students apply locally, the criteria are developed locally and the money is disbursed locally. It is another avenue through which people can be helped.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The increased stipend for PhD students that was announced in the budget is not covered in the Supplementary Estimate; it does not need to be. Does the Minister of State think it will facilitate postgraduate students in terms of their further studies?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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A long campaign has been waged by various stakeholders in that cohort of students. We have done a lot of work. We spend a lot of our time speaking about apprenticeships and higher education but part of our remit is research. We have reformed significantly the legislation and organisations that oversee and are charged with managing our research as well as with supporting people through stipends. It is something that had fallen behind. We have taken some significant steps to close the gap there.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State and his officials for their engagement at this meeting and at all previous meetings of this Dáil, which is coming near an end. That concludes our consideration of the Supplementary Estimate for Vote 45.