Results 101-120 of 1,066,746 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Jan O'Sullivan OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:Bernard Durkan OR speaker:Thomas Byrne OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh) in 'Committee meetings'

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)

David Stanton: I thank the Minister of State for telling us about the good work that is going on and the money being made available. Does he accept the finding by the Irish Universities Association in an investigation it launched recently that one third of the equipment in Irish universities is older than the original iPhone, that is, more than 16 years old, and more than half of it is over a decade old?...

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)

David Stanton: I thank the Minister of State for that interesting and useful information. Does he have an overall figure for the amount required to bring all our universities up to the modern, cutting-edge standard that will allow them to compete internationally? If he does not have that figure to hand, will he send it to me later? Is he aware that Mario Draghi's recent report on European competitiveness...

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)

Student Accommodation

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

Aindrias Moynihan: 8. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if funding can be accessed by third level institutions to increase their student accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40030/24]

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

Aindrias Moynihan: Third level colleges attract huge numbers of students who require accommodation. A preference for that accommodation being beside the college is very much a reasonable requirement, especially for first-year students. While private operators are providing some accommodation, what additional efforts are being made by the colleges to make accommodation available to students? Do they have...

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)

Matt Carthy: I have to say, that was the most non-answer answer I have ever heard in this Chamber. It is not good enough. To suggest the ETBs are fiefdoms making decisions independent of the Government is simply ludicrous. It is the Government that sets policy and allocates budgets, so for the Minister of State to say he is aware of funding constraints within the ETB and further education sector,...

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

Pauline Tully: I have been contacted by tutors and by students who want to undertake these courses, and the tutors were given very little notice. They were contacted within days of when they assumed they were going to start delivering their classes. One tutor who delivers up to six art classes a week suddenly has no classes. She depends on that funding; it is her job. Students who have been in contact...

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...

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

Matt Carthy: The Minister of State is now blaming the members of the board of the ETB, who, I can tell him, were not aware of this decision until after it had been made at an executive level. It was made at an executive level because there is clearly a funding gap, and we know about the funding gap because tutors and students were initially told their courses would be delayed. They were later told they...

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

Pauline Tully: The members of the board were not aware this was happening. I know there was a changeover of membership because of the local elections, but the members both before and after the elections were not aware. They had put forward proposals to get an overdraft and so on but were just shot down. The Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, intimated to me that some of the funding related to the large number...

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

Niall Collins: Nobody is washing their hands of it. The Deputies may not want to take local responsibility or may think there should not be local responsibility, but it is my view the members of the Cavan and Monaghan ETB should be aware of this. It is their duty to be aware of what is happening in the organisation for which they have a corporate governance remit and oversight. Whether or not there was a...

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

Third Level Education

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

David Stanton: 7. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way he is ensuring that third-level institutions are supplied with the most up-to-date, cutting edge technological equipment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40057/24]

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

David Stanton: How is the Minister of State ensuring third-level institutions and universities are supplied with the most up-to-date, cutting edge technological and research equipment? How is he supporting them in that regard?

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

Niall Collins: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs, including the management of academic affairs and how they utilise core funding allocations. As part of budget 2025, the Government agreed a total National Training Fund funding package of €1.485...

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

Ruairi Ó Murchú: I welcome that information about those who will benefit. As I stated previously, there is a large number of people who still do not benefit and are under severe pressure. We have to deal with the whole issue right through from the cost of living to the huge cost of accommodation. At times some students are under pressure. The USI produced a survey showing that some students are having to...