Results 41-60 of 11,692 for speaker:Niall Collins

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: The clinic is open, and the Deputy can send on all his details. We will endeavour to assist all the aforementioned people. Deputy Durkan asked about a skills gaps. I referred previously to our regional skills forums and regional skills managers. The regional skills forums are stakeholder groups that our regional skills managers meet in their respective areas regularly. They are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: It is a job of work for our various ETBs, SOLAS, technological universities and colleges of further education and training to constantly identify skills deficits and gaps in the labour market. The Deputy referred to the construction sector. Right across the country, we have our education and training service providers. Training covers modern methods of construction and green skills...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: The Deputy will be aware that Galway and Roscommon ETB is being supported by SOLAS in developing its preliminary business case proposal under the FET college of the future major projects fund. The development of a robust preliminary business case is fundamental to the requirements of the infrastructure guidelines. The proposal put forward by Galway and Roscommon ETB is one of 12 projects...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: I will ask the Department to revert to the Deputy with the breakdown she has asked for. On the engagement that has taken place with ETBs to support them in developing their preliminary business cases, SOLAS and the Department met representatives of all 12 ETBs over a two-week period in April and May of this year to further discuss their proposals in the context of affordability, value for...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: The ETBs were given until 2 September to submit their refined business plans.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: According to my information, a total of seven ETBs submitted their refined business plans by 2 September 2024. Submissions were received from Cork ETB, Cavan and Monaghan ETB, Kilkenny and Carlow ETB, Kildare and Wicklow ETB-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: No. Its submission was not in on time. The five ETBs that did not submit business cases for evaluation are expected to do so by the next full sitting of the evaluation panel, in January 2025, and they will be considered.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: Yes.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: No.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: Previous speakers have raised this issue and we have discussed student accommodation. We have a long-term student accommodation policy, which was approved by the Government in 2024.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: That policy will inform student accommodation strategies and schemes which are being developed throughout 2024. We also have conducted a feasibility study across the technological university sector, as the Deputy will know. That was basically an exercise in which we collaborated through the umbrella group for the technological universities. We asked them to identify their requirements and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: In budget 2025, we made a significant investment of €77.4 million to grow apprenticeship, a valued option for those who wish to gain a skill or improve their skills across many sectors of the economy. There are currently 77 national apprenticeship programmes available from levels 5 to 10 of the national framework of qualifications, NFQ, across a diverse range of skills from plumbing...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: There is no decision from the Government, or any recommendation from the Department of public expenditure and reform to the Government to make a decision, on the TU borrowing facility. That is something that is raised with me quite regularly, so that is to answer it straight up for the Deputy. However, it is our intention to increase supply as much as we can. That is why the intention of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: As the Chair stated, the Deputy has picked a fine example. That is exactly what is being inquired into by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Higher Education Authority through their statutory process and, I understand from media reports, An Garda Síochána, so there are lots of moving parts in that regard. It is incumbent on any higher education institution to ensure value...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: We are developing a new student accommodation strategy to identify accommodation needs and responses in campus locations, in line with the long-term student accommodation policy adopted earlier this year. The strategy will encompass all demand. However, there is a key emphasis on providing State support for the most disadvantaged students who cannot participate in the market and who require...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: From 2017 to the end of August 2024, 15,222 purpose-built student beds were built, bringing the total stock of student beds to in excess of 48,000. Since 2020, 9,241 student beds have been completed, with 7,046 of those beds in the private market and 2,195 beds provided by the higher education institutions. Of the 2,195 public beds provided by the higher education institutions, 1,021...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: I agree that research equipment should be as new and as up to date as possible. We need to avoid older equipment and equipment that is reaching its end of use. In December 2023, €15 million in capital funding for research equipment across the higher education sector was announced by my Department under the higher education research equipment grant. This funding was disbursed via the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Third Level Education (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: I will ask the Department to let the Deputy know whether we are in possession of the figure he is seeking regarding equipment that needs replacing. I will revert to him on that for sure. High-performance computing, HPC, is linked to the points Mario Draghi made, as referenced by the Deputy. In August this year, the Minister confirmed the appointment of an expert panel to review the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Student Accommodation (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: In budget 2025, we secured €6 million in annual funding to support the activation of more than 1,200 new student accommodation beds through leasing. This measure will support target group students in availing of new accommodation supply, with at least 30% of all developments being available at below market rates. A sum of €1 million has been secured to provide student...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: I think both Deputies will understand the structure of ETBs and their governance, and to say otherwise would be to misrepresent their structure. To address the funding of further education, our Department has significantly increased its investment in further education and training in recent years, from about €909 million in 2020 to more than €1.055 billion in 2024, excluding...