Results 1,101-1,120 of 1,073,313 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Michael Moynihan OR speaker:Frank Feighan)

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

Naoise Ó Muirí: As I understand it, it is a 1% charge which is collected through employer's PRSI. I was looking at employer's PRSI and could not find it anywhere so I presume it is just buried within the employer's rate. Will the Minister give us a sense of this? It is going up year on year, with buoyancy in employment it should be going up more. Roughly how much does it go up by year on year? That sets...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: The question is a good one as to where it goes next. Before I answer that I will talk about the steps my previous answers were stepping through. We need to bring in legislation because the National Training Fund Act does not envisage the type of uses I have just outlined. I think they are important. I met with IBEC and other employer representatives on it. There is a general shared...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

Is féidir teacht ar Cheisteanna Scríofa ar www.oireachtas.ie. Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters (8 Jul 2025)

Ábhair Shaincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Matters (8 Jul 2025)

Conor Sheehan: I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan - To discuss the dog breeding national register. Deputy Michael Cahill - To discuss respite services at St. Mary of the Angels and St. Francis Special School, Whitefield, Beaufort, County Kerry. Deputy...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate (8 Jul 2025)

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (8 Jul 2025)

Special Educational Needs

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (8 Jul 2025)

Michael Cahill: St. Mary of the Angels and St. Francis Special School in Beaufort in the heart of County Kerry is a very special place. The special needs community in Kerry has a major respite crisis. The families do not have the time to wait. The ground and the campus at St. Mary of the Angels should be made accessible now. Families do not have time to wait. They need help. They are not asking for...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (8 Jul 2025)

Thomas Byrne: Thar ceann an Aire Leanaí, Míchumais agus Comhionannais, an Teachta Foley, is mian liom mo buíochas a ghabhail leis an Teachta as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a ardú agus as deis a thabhairt don Aire – is mé atá ag labhairt ar a son – freagra a thabhairt. This Government acknowledges that demand for respite services across the country...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: 11 o’clock I think the Deputy has got to the heart of the recent debate; he has actually nailed it. It is so important that with whatever intervention we make around fees, grants or supports, we understand what the policy objective is. Is it to broaden the net? Is it to give something to everybody? Is it to give most to those who need it most? Is it to bring into the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (8 Jul 2025)

Naoise Ó Muirí: That is the point I was making. It looks like the data indicate mature students who get the SUSI support do better in the long run than those who do not. It is a matter of closing the loop over the research and considering it in the long term to understand what happens when levers are pulled. When the Minister pulls levers, it is a case of asking whether he is just bringing more people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Education (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: For the benefit of the House, let me recap on some of the measures kicking in this year. I will investigate with regard to the cohort mentioned. It is worth saying that the special rate of maintenance threshold increased this year from €26,200 to €27,400. All grant thresholds increased by 15%, meaning the highest threshold is now €115,000. I signed a statutory...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

Education and Training Boards

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 109. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the funding cut to apprenticeships in Meath and across the State; his assessment of the practical impact of this cut; the measures he is taking to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37297/25]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I thank the Deputy. We have had a few variations of this discussion over the evening. That is to be expected because there were impacts in different areas in different ways. There has actually been no funding cut to the apprenticeship system in 2025. In fact, investment through the Revised Estimates has increased by €41 million by comparison with the figure for last year. Instead...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Is that the case with LMETB or are there specific circumstances in its area? I do not know whether the Minister was going to make a point on that. The figures I have from the service plan for 2025 show further education and training funding was €87 million and that this was revised on foot of a funding letter down to €73.7 million. That is a cut of in the region of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: I do not have to hand a figure for LMETB per se. The overall system has received €41 million more this year than last year. What SOLAS allocates to each ETB is a matter for it. It is devolved from my Department and my control. If LMETB has a figure above or below what was expected, it is between it and SOLAS. The overall budget envelope for which responsibility has been devolved...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: It is really important that these courses proceed and that people be allowed to work their way through the system because we need a conveyor belt of graduates in all courses. There was a reference earlier to reflection on how we have ended up in this place. None of the students or apprentices has dropped out of the sky; they have been in the system. Has SOLAS dropped the ball? Did the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

James Lawless: My immediate focus is on fixing the problem but I hear what the Deputy is saying. The immediate response is to address the funding gap to ensure no courses are detrimentally impacted to the extent that they would not progress into next year. I have written to the chair of SOLAS to instruct that no apprenticeship classes be cancelled. Once this is resolved – I am confident it will be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education and Training Boards (8 Jul 2025)

Question No. 110 taken with Question No. 104.