Results 101-120 of 11,757 for speaker:Niall Collins

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

Niall Collins: Yes.

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

Niall Collins: Our Department continues to oversee the implementation of the plan put in place by the National Apprenticeship Office in November 2023 to significantly increase apprenticeship capacity, responding to rising craft apprenticeship demand as a result of our buoyant economy. In budget 2024, €67 million was allocated to apprenticeship, on top of which our Department reprioritised a further...

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

Niall Collins: The normal waiting times for off-the-job training in the education and training boards range from three to six months. Any apprentices waiting longer than six months for phase 2 training are part of the phase 2 backlog and considered to be waiting overlong for training. In July 2023, 6,166 apprentices were waiting six months or longer. In August 2024, that figure had dropped to 2,484. We...

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

Niall Collins: I will ask officials in the Department to furnish the Deputy with the information he requires. I do not have the details on a national level or at micro level regarding Cork. I will ask those to be furnished to the Deputy as well.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Funding (8 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: The DARE scheme is operated by the Irish Universities Association, IUA, on behalf of the higher education institutions which set the policy criteria for the scheme. Applications to the scheme are submitted to the Central Applications Office which co-ordinates the scheme for participating institutions. All matters pertaining to admissions to higher education are a function of the higher...

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...