Results 81-100 of 1,078,517 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Catherine Byrne OR speaker:Josepha Madigan OR speaker:Bernard Durkan OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Peter Burke OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Patrick Costello OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Catherine Byrne2 OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív)

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)

Apprenticeship Programmes

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

Bernard Durkan: 10. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which he expects to make extra provision for apprenticeships or third level access routes for those with a technical expertise who wish to improve their skills and options; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40049/24]

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

Bernard Durkan: I wish to zoom in on the degree to which the relevant vacancies have been identified throughout industry, both in the public and private sector, with the view to matching up the qualifications and identifying the precise areas in which weaknesses have appeared and the degree to which it is anticipated to be able to address them.

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: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Oct 2024)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the Minister of State for that reply. To what degree have the individual shortages of skilled operatives been identified precisely? In order to meet that market requirement, it is absolutely essential we can identify the precise number of, for example, crane operators and to what degree they are required at the present time. Have we enough or nearly enough crane operators, or are...

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

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: We have two supplementary questions, the first of which is in the name of Deputy Ó Murchú.

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

Ruairi Ó Murchú: To follow on from Deputy Durkan, I recently visited the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence, Dundalk. We have the robotics and automation apprenticeship which, obviously, is an absolute necessity. We know the idea behind cybersecurity. We have 3D concrete printing. There is also huge interaction between industry and the advanced manufacturing centre, which is followed up...

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

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I wish to flag an issue with the Minister of State, which I have raised previously with his colleague, the then-Minister of the Department and now Taoiseach, Deputy Harris, in relation to the craft certificate. Since the craft certificates have come on stream, I have been dealing for almost one year with an issue a constituent of mine, Paschal Ryan, has in this regard. When he applied for...

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

Aindrias Moynihan: The struggle even just to find accommodation, let alone to get accommodation that is reasonably priced, is a huge issue for students. Being close to the college is an important requirement to so many as well. A recent USI survey in Cork indicated that 27% of students were in purpose-built accommodation, much of which was privately operated, with very little from the colleges. Clearly, the...

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)

Aindrias Moynihan: Often when we think of student accommodation, the purpose-built units or the apartments might be the first in mind, but there are also houses. While we see the challenge there for the technological universities, other colleges seem to be able to move in more flexible or different abilities, such as in Limerick, where they were able to buy houses.

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

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: The Deputy is picking a great example.

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

Aindrias Moynihan: I know the C and AG's office has a view on that. What level of control or assurance is there that while colleges are operating in that space for accommodation, they are getting value for money and ensuring that they are giving the maximum number of students accommodation?

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)

Student Accommodation

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

Catherine Connolly: 9. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 73 of 25 June 2024, for an update on plans to provide additional student accommodation units for students at the University of Galway; the status and location of the additional 403, work under way, and 1,669, planning obtained, purpose-built student accommodation bed spaces in Galway; and if he will make a...

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

Catherine Connolly: I am returning to this question again. A number of previous speakers have raised it. I am asking for an update on plans to provide additional student accommodation units for students in Galway; the status and location of the additional 403 and 1,669 planned purpose-built student accommodation spaces. I have read the answers and listened to the responses. I would love to tease this out....

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)

Catherine Connolly: Now that we have dispensed with that response, could we just tease out really where we are going in terms of student accommodation in this country? Are we going to learn from what we did with housing and HAP, which was an absolute disaster, and where we have put in literally millions and billions of euro to keep the market price of homes very high? We have done the same as regards students....