Vol. 1080 No. 1
88. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the plans within his Department to develop a further and expanded phase of programme for access to higher education, PATH, 4 funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6868/26]
I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy John Connolly. The programme for access to higher education, PATH, 4, is the universal design for learning. It supports HEIs in making teaching assessment and student supports more inclusive. Does the Minister or Department plan on developing or expanding any phases of PATH 4?
I thank the Deputy. The PATH 4 programme is extremely important. I am very proud of it and the Taoiseach is very supportive of it as well. We have discussed it directly in Cabinet. It supports the goal of enabling all learners with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, to avail of higher education. I have visited a number of PATH 4 locations, including in Cork - I think it is called the field of dreams. I have been to the Trinity centre for people with intellectual disabilities. Each one is remarkable in terms of the participation, enablement and autonomy it provides students who can avail of the service. I am keen to continue to support the programme.
The two phases of PATH 4 aim to strengthen universal design for all students. Universal design means making sure that buildings, courses and how we navigate them internally are geared towards students with various different disability types in mind. The programme also enhances opportunities for the engagement of students with intellectual disabilities to fully participate in courses in a way that suits them and from which they can fully benefit.
A total of €5.8 million has been allocated under PATH 4 since 2022. Some €3 million was allocated in 2022 and I was pleased to bring forward last year a further €2.8 million for the period 2025-2026. To date, that funding has been introduced on a phased basis year by year and is something I hope to mainstream. I plan to update my Cabinet colleagues on proposals in that regard to make the funding a permanent feature of the system. I expect to make an announcement on that in the near future.
I thank the Minister for his reply. There has been a concerted effort from the Minister and the Department to ensure that PATH 4 is expanded. It is about realising the potential of every young person through education, in particular. PATH 4 certainly offers that.
There has been strong uptake across higher education institutions, improved staff capacity and awareness, and inclusive training and teaching. There is early evidence of more accessible learning. I pay tribute to some positive examples. Maynooth University has delivered universal design for learning, UDL, training to academic staff and developed inclusive assessment pilots; University College Cork has embedded UDL principles into first-year curriculum redesign projects; and Technological University Dublin has introduced UDL-aligned digital learning standards and staff workshops. However, there does not seem to be a standardisation or an even implementation across higher education institutions. I know we are still at the early stages of UDL adoption, but if there were a standardisation across the higher education institutions, that would make it more accessible to more people.
Yes, that is fair. I think 193 students are enrolled in PATH 4 phase 2. The original target or expectation was that it might hit 160 students, so it has gone well beyond that, which I am delighted to see. They are running across 11 different programmes. I will not list them out but there is a reasonably good spread geographically and they include the technological universities and the traditional universities right across the board, with multiple institutions participating. The way in which those courses or colleges were identified and chosen followed a competitive call for proposals. The Deputy asked how this was decided. There was a PATH initiative under strand 4 whereby an independent expert panel was commissioned to say which of these applications should be supported and, following a competitive call, these 11 were chosen. The courses are typically between one and two years in length. I hope this does not need to be said but I will just say it anyway. The courses are free and there is no charge for participation. There was a significant consultation across many Departments. The National Learning Network, SOLAS, the Irish Universities Association, the inclusive national forum, Down Syndrome Ireland and many others were also consulted in devising the courses and the allocations.
I understand the phased approach, but ensuring multi-year funding would allow higher education institutions to move from pilot phases to full implementation. I ask as well that a national UDL benchmark be established so we can measure consistency across higher education institutions. We need to ensure there are benchmarks that show what is success, what is working and not working, and what we can learn from, change and improve. Finally, I ask for further support to institutions with dedicated UDL co-ordinators or teams. Having a team on campus supporting these students is particularly important. Seeing those types of measures in place will certainly benefit those students now and into the future.
I will address the UDL piece first. I thank an Teachta Connolly. I know Deputy Ó Cearúil is taking this question in his stead. Deputy Connolly has invited me to a UDL conference in University of Galway later this year, which he is involved in arranging and which I very much hope to attend. That will be a very important milestone in rolling out UDL more widely and discussions about this issue.
In terms of mainstreaming our permanent funding, this was, to an extent, a new pilot programme when it was introduced in 2022. It was funded until, I think, 2024. When I came into office I allocated a further €2.8 million to it to continue for this year and last year, the intention being, having done a second phase or second tranche of funding, and all going well, and it has done very well, to look then to mainstream that and put it onto a more permanent, sustainable footing. As I said, I intend to bring a memo to Cabinet in the near future on that note. I hope I will have good news to share with the Deputy in the House at that stage.
89. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the measures being considered for 2026 to support students with accommodation and living costs, including any planned adjustments to SUSI thresholds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6882/26]
What measures are being considered this year, in 2026, to support students with accommodation and living costs, including any planned adjustments to SUSI thresholds, particularly in our constituency of Kildare North and the Maynooth area but also as students from across our constituency are travelling into Dublin. Not everybody goes to Maynooth, as I did. A lot of people go into Dublin. What plans, if any, are there for 2026?
I am very familiar with the challenges of commuting from Kildare to various colleges. I have two daughters, one attending Maynooth and one attending UCD, both of whom recently graduated, and I have seen the commute, the grind and so on. The Deputy and I have worked together on improving public transport on many of those services.
When I came to review the grants this year, I was mindful of non-adjacent students, that is, students who live 30 km or more away from college. The Deputy will appreciate, representing as we both do a commuter-belt constituency, that non-adjacent previously meant 45 km and it is now 30 km. Just because we are close to a college, be it UCD or any college in the city centre, does not mean it is easy to get there, put simply. That is because of congestion, commuting and so on. I was very mindful of that, so the distance is down to 30 km.
As to what supports are available for students facing accommodation pressures, commuting costs and so forth, I have increased all the non-adjacent grants this year - the first five levels, from the base grant right through - some by €350 and some by up to €420. Every single non-adjacent grant for students living 30 km or more away from their college has increased this year.
I have also increased the postgraduate contribution fee. That means that postgraduate students have €500 less to pay this year. I have increased the subvention to the student contribution fee more broadly, in a universal fashion, which means there is a €500 permanent cut to student fees across the board. In particular, in terms of targeted measures, that additional money allocated to people on non-adjacent grants is real money into their hands, additional money that I expect will support them significantly in making the costs add up.
I also increased the student assistance fund. That is a discretionary fund available through college hardship officers. I am increasing thresholds as well. The threshold to avail of the various grants has increased now to €120,000, which means Members of this House, for example, can benefit from a SUSI grant, which would not have been the case historically.
I acknowledge the efforts and measures the Minister has taken in increasing the non-adjacent grants, the student assistance fund, etc. I spent a year in student union politics just after university in Maynooth students' union. An issue then, which continues to be an issue, is that there are those who sit right above the threshold for grants, for whatever reason. It is similar in a way to when somebody is applying for social housing and there is an income limit of €40,000. In circumstances where there is a €40,000 income limit, as in that instance, or a €50,000 limit, in terms of the SUSI grant, there is sometimes a reason that the threshold should not apply to someone earning €51,000. In that circumstance, is there any way view of assessing difficulty or hardship or reasoning when assessing that hard line of a threshold?
In any social democracy, where do we draw the line and where should income levels and thresholds be? We are at a situation now where the threshold to avail of the minimum form of a grant is €120,000 per household, which means 80% of households in Ireland are eligible for at least some form of SUSI grant intervention.
To the Deputy's broader point about how we draw the line, and there are a number of lines as you go through the graduated system, I mentioned to Deputy Charles Ward earlier that there is a disregard for mica scheme payments. There are also disregards for disability payments and bursaries, for example, the 1916 scheme. I think there are several dozen of those because I signed a statutory instrument last year to give effect to them. The many disregards should go some way towards making it easier to hit the thresholds. One thing I intend to explore in the upcoming budget is whether, in the case of larger families with a number of children in the household attending college at one time, there is a measure we could take to ease the burden on them and whether that is a factor or criterion we could take into account. I am pursuing that at the moment to investigate for this year's budget.
I welcome that. It is really positive. Deputy Jen Cummins mentioned earlier children who are estranged from their parents, etc., and having to rely on their parents then when they are looking for student grants or if they are not getting student grants, even though they are estranged. The Minister's response to that made complete sense. It could increase the number of people claiming they are estranged when they might not be.
The Minister and spoke outside the House about the other issue I raise. He stated that about 80% of the population are eligible for some sort of SUSI grant. I do not know if this is being planned but it would be great to see the Department promote that message in secondary schools. It could also work with the CAO to get that news out to students.
A lot of people who are eligible for it do not claim it, like me. As we spoke about before, I did not claim it in first year, but I did in second year when I realised I was eligible for it.
I wholeheartedly agree with the Deputy. Many of the thresholds are now so high and some of the benefits are so broadly available that maybe people have not realised they are eligible for them. I did launch a communications campaign in the national media last summer as a result of that to make people aware. Deputies may have seen it running across national radio and TV. That did actually drive an increase in applicants, which I was glad to see because we devise these schemes so people can avail of them. That is the whole point of having them. I agree with that and we will continue to do more of that as well.
I will mention too, because I think it is relevant in terms of the wider supports, that the student assistance fund, which the Deputy might be aware of from his students union time, is a broad-based fund at the discretion of each individual access officer or welfare officer in the colleges. It is a pool of money worth €19.3 million. That is there and I increased it again coming into the new year. That is for things like books, the cost of materials, rent subvention if necessary, food, travel and medical costs. There is a relatively wide list and it is not prescriptive. Significant trust is rightly given to the access officers or welfare officers in each college to make a call when they have a student coming to them for assistance. They can judge and I think they get that call right.
I thank the Minister.
That broad-based fund is available and it is an additional student support on top of the other schemes there.
90. Deputy Tony McCormack asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the progress made in expanding apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities; whether additional measures are planned to increase participation and completion rates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6757/26]
What progress has been made on expanding apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities? Are additional measures planned to increase participation and completion rates? I ask the Minister to make a statement on the matter.
I thank the Deputy. His question relates to expanding apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities. As he is aware, work-integrated learning, where learners apply their studies in real-world settings, is a cornerstone of Ireland’s tertiary education system and this includes apprenticeships and traineeships. Apprenticeships provide structured routes into employment for roles requiring hands-on learning and guaranteed workplace experience, whereas traineeships offer shorter, much more flexible options where work experience is essential. My Department remains committed to investing in apprenticeships and traineeships.
In budget 2026, the Government invested €79 million in apprenticeship delivery, bringing the 2026 current apprenticeship budget to over €410 million. That is more than double the allocation in 2020, when this Department was established. The investment has grown the number of apprenticeship programmes from 58 in 2020 to 78 currently, so we can see that investment is increasing significantly, as is the number of different apprenticeship programmes available. Regarding traineeships, SOLAS allocates funding to the education and training boards, ETBs, and that depends on local needs, where they support flexible, targeted training. There are over 75 traineeship programmes available nationally across sectors from construction to retail.
A wide range of supports are also funded by my Department to support the participation of apprentices and trainees. I can elaborate on some of those in my further replies.
I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I wish to briefly underline the importance of apprenticeships in the context of the very significant investment the Government is making in infrastructure and housing. If we are serious about delivering on our housing targets, retrofitting programmes, transport projects and wider public capital investment, we must ensure we have a strong and sustainable pipeline of skilled tradespeople to match that level of ambition.
In that regard, I wish to acknowledge the excellent work being carried out at Mount Lucas in County Offaly, where the Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board is delivering high-quality apprenticeship and training programmes that are making a real difference for learners, employers and the local economy. We also know that many qualified tradespeople are now earning substantially more than their peers who pursue other degree pathways, with strong job security and clear progression opportunities. Apprenticeship is no longer a second-best option. It is increasingly an attractive and viable first-choice career. Given this reality, can the Minister of State outline how her Department is actively promoting apprenticeships?
I absolutely agree with the Deputy regarding the great work being done at Mount Lucas. I think I have been there three times at this stage, looking at its work on modern methods of construction, MMC, its flagship development. Of course, it also has what is called the Skillnet MMC Accelerate platform. That showcases the different career pathways that are available to participate in MMC. It is one thing to have it and to have it developed and have really good work going on, but is another thing to make sure apprentices are aware of it and of the opportunities.
The Deputy's question is broader, though, and includes reaction to our NDP, our climate plan, our housing targets and how we are going to ensure we have a sufficient pipeline of apprentices and trainees. Just this week, the Minister and I launched the careers in construction action plan. It includes 36 actions building on the previous plan, which was quite successful. Actually, it was very successful. Again, if the Deputy wants more detail, I can tell him more about it.
Many young people enter mainstream third level education and subsequently drop out for a range of reasons, including being pushed into or choosing the wrong course. There remains a degree of snobbery within our educational system and wider society that prioritises traditional college routes at all costs, even where apprenticeships would better suit a young person's skills, aptitude and learning style. Given that many young people are well suited to apprenticeships and would thrive in that model, what steps is the Minister of State taking to challenge this mindset, ensure apprenticeships are presented as an equal and respected option in schools and better capture those students who disengage from traditional third level education but could succeed through apprenticeship pathways?
This is again a very important question. I agree with what the Deputy is saying. Perhaps up to now, though it is changing, apprenticeships and sometimes traineeships were seen as a second or third option. They absolutely must be a first option for those for whom they are suitable. We are starting in the schools. There are a number of programmes in transition year. We have the initial vocational education and training, iVET, programme, which is a taster programme in construction available to transition year students. We have SafePass programmes. We are also looking at other programmes to not just encourage students to look at construction as a possible career, but also to break down some of those barriers that exist, including the gender barriers and the underrepresented groups. We are dealing with it from that aspect first of all. We are also having quite a number of promotional activities. The Deputy may have heard of Building Heroes, an excellent programme, with 12 ambassadors who are already in the construction sector undertaking peer-to-peer engagement, telling their colleagues about why it is a career of choice, why it is a top-class career and why they should consider it. There is a lot of work going on.
91. Deputy Peter Roche asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he has examined the impact of the current means-testing arrangements for the SUSI grant on adult and mature applicants who, due to the lack of available or affordable housing, continue to reside in the family home and are therefore assessed on parental income; his plans to review the SUSI means test to address this issue, particularly in respect of independent or mature students; whether his Department is engaging with the Department of Social Protection regarding potential reforms to these arrangements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6932/26]
I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Peter Roche. Has the Department examined the impact of the current means-testing arrangements for the SUSI grant for those applicants who continue to reside in the family home and thus have to be assessed on their parental income? Obviously, the number of people in this situation is rising, potentially, because of the housing crisis. Has the Department engaged with the Department of Social Protection regarding potential reforms to these arrangements?
I think the Minister will be back in a few minutes, but I will respond to this question. The reply states the student grant scheme is a universal scheme and the rules including the means-testing of reckonable income are applied on an equal basis to all students who make an application. In general, for student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances, either as students dependent on their parent or legal guardian or as independent mature students.
Students may be assessed as independent students if they have attained the age of 23 on 1 January of the year of first entry or re-entry to an approved further education course or an approved higher education course and they have not been ordinarily resident with their parents from the previous 1 October. Otherwise, they are assessed as dependent students, that is, assessed with reference to parental income. Applicants who do not meet the criteria to be assessed as an independent student for grant purposes or who cannot supply the necessary documentation to establish independent living for the required period may still apply to the awarding authority, SUSI, to have their grant eligibility assessed as a dependent student.
Mature students living at home may have benefited from recent improvements to the scheme. This academic year, all income thresholds to receive a student grant increased, with standard rate thresholds increasing by at least 15%. In budget 2026, the Minister introduced the first permanent reduction in the student contribution of €500. Families whose household income is under €115,000 can also receive a €500 grant towards their student contribution for this academic year. The threshold for this grant will also increase in September to a very significant €120,000.
According to the Skillnet Ireland talent report for 2025, 58% of businesses report that they have difficulty in attracting required skills. There is a huge opportunity for society and for the individuals themselves in people reskilling and upskilling, thereby contributing more to society and improving their own lives. However, we are effectively putting barriers in place, preventing people from engaging in this upskilling by not enabling them to fully access all the supports that would be available to them were it not for their personal circumstances. In order to finance their return to education, people are returning to live at home, having been in rental accommodation or overseas. Many people in Dublin Rathdown have been in touch with me to highlight how they were not aware that, if they allowed their children to move back home, they would suddenly no longer be eligible. These are individuals who regard themselves as fully mature and independent. They just want to make a greater contribution to society and improve their own opportunities.
I think an Teachta O'Connell is standing in for an Teachta Roche. I acknowledge that he raised this issue with me during Questions on Policy or Legislation earlier in the week. It is an important issue. This is a universal scheme. Means testing of reckonable income is applied to students on an equal basis.
I will recap the rules that pertain to mature students. A student is considered to be independent or mature if he or she has attained the age of 23 at the start of the calendar year and has not ordinarily been resident with his or her parents from the previous 1 October. By contrast, if students are living in the family home, they are assessed as dependent students. I know the Deputy is asking whether it is correct for that to be the case. I appreciate it is difficult, particularly at a time when housing needs are not always met and people are living in the family home by necessity rather than necessarily by choice. It is a difficult situation intergenerationally as well.
A number of improvements have been made to the scheme. The eligibility thresholds have increased by about 15% across the board. The student contribution was permanently cut by €500, which could contribute towards affordability. In addition, all the non-adjacent grants have been increased. The student assistance fund has also been increased to an historic high. Various other supports for things like disability and mental health were also brought into the system through the recent budget.
I acknowledge the improvements that have been made to the various schemes. The overall scheme does not take into account how the world in which we are operating has changed. We are now in a world where people are expected to engage in lifelong learning. People return to education, then go back to work and then return to education. We need to demonstrate our support for that. As we know, we are also facing a housing crisis. As part of that, we are changing the rules to allow modular homes to be built on the site of the family home. We will now see in Dublin the situation that pertains in the country where people share an eircode with their family while living completely separate from them, resulting in all of the income being rolled in together. The system as originally designed is not fit for purpose in the modern era. It needs to be looked at. We need to ensure that people can access these supports because we need to have people consistently upskilling and reskilling in order to contribute to society and improve their own outcomes. Of course, we need to ensure the system is not taken advantage of but we need to provide those supports for people to encourage that lifelong learning.
Lifelong learning is at the core of everything I seek to do in the Department. It is one of the reasons I brought the proposal for a national skills observatory to Cabinet last week. This dataset will enable future labour force needs to be forecast and emerging occupation trends to be modelled, predicted and met well by the education and training systems. Just last Friday, I attended a Skillnet event in Dundalk with my colleague, the chair of the committee, Deputy Erin McGreehan. We saw at first hand how Skillnet working with local employers can be extremely useful. We also have microcredential courses. These are short courses that can last six weeks or six months and can be offered online, through a hybrid model or in a local centre. Those microcredentials can be stacked upon one another. You walk away with a qualification that can be increased and augmented over time.
The reason a student living at home is not considered to be independent is that they do not necessarily pay rent, although I appreciate that they make a contribution in some cases, although not all. They also benefit from certain supports that are not provided to students living in an independent residence. I take on board the point on the prospect of modular homes and the planning system. That is progressing and it is something we need to look at to see what its knock-on effects might be.
94. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to reduce university fees; if the Government is committed to fully abolishing university fees; when this will be realised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6908/26]
What are the Government's plans to reduce university fees? Is the Government committed to fully abolishing university fees? When will this happen? In the context of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, these fees are putting undue pressure on families and students.
The Government's commitment is set out in the programme for Government. It is no more and no less. The programme for Government commitment is to reduce the student contribution fee in a financially sustainable manner over the lifetime of the Government. Budget 2026 was my first opportunity since taking up office to begin delivering on that programme for Government commitment. I did so with an immediate permanent reduction of €500 in the student contribution fee. That became effective straight away. Students are benefiting from that in the current academic year. That flat-rate reduction is universal. It is not means-tested and is available to all students, regardless of income. It has resulted in the base-rate fee reducing from €3,000 to €2,500 for the current academic year. That is the first permanent reduction in fees since free fees were introduced in 1995. It is significant and I am proud to have been able to deliver it. That fee reduction will benefit around 108,000 undergraduate students. A further 14,000 apprentices will also benefit, as will postgraduate students.
In addition, I have increased the income threshold for grant applicants to €120,000. As I said earlier, there are Members of this House who could now benefit from that. The new threshold reaches into the middle income bracket and, I would suggest, even a little bit beyond. Some 80% of households are now eligible for at least some form of SUSI intervention, whether in respect of fees, maintenance or both. I would welcome debate as to where to target further moneys. Further moneys have been pledged. I am of the view that we should be progressive and target these funds. We should look at investing moneys in the sections of society where they are really needed and where they will make a lifelong difference. That is why, as part of the budget, I invested in mental health and disability supports and increased all of the maintenance grants for the first five basic layers. I also increased the student assistance fund. We give help to everybody but we should give the most help to those who need it most. That is a fundamental principle of social democracy and social justice. I would welcome the Deputy's comments on that at some stage.
As the Minister mentioned, 108,000 students and their parents will get a second bill for student fees through the door. I know because I am one of those parents who got a bill this week. I am in the privileged position of being able to afford to support my daughter but many parents are not in that position. I was interested in the Minister's response to Deputy Ó Cearúil earlier with regard to parents who have multiple children going through college at the same time. He said there may be a commitment to address that further down the line or in the next budget. That would be really welcome.
I know the Government has a promise to reduce fees but the reality for most parents and children out there is that there has been an increase of €500 from last year to this year. The reason I know this is because I am one of the parents who had to pay the money. Is there any commitment to address this?
I was also one of those parents, not this year but in recent years, and I will say I did not need that support. I will be honest about it. Those on an upper income, such as Members of the House for example, are in a privileged enough position. Having said this, I have extended the threshold and Deputy Ward will now benefit from the €500 cut. Presuming his income is the TD's income we all have, he will benefit from the €500 subvention. This means the fees will be €2,000, the same as they were last year. It is arrived at through a different formula but it is the same thing. It is a little bit fairer and more progressive because it is based on means, albeit the means threshold is at €120,000 now, which is the highest it has ever been. The combination of the flat cut of €500 and the student subvention cut of another €500 on top means that effectively it is the same thing. As much as I can, year on year I will continue to reduce the figure.
There are many other aspects to it, such as the cost of accommodation, the cost of travel and the cost of books. I have engaged with student unions across the board on this in terms of their needs and there is a range of measures. The minimum thing I will do in every aspect of my brief is to follow the programme for Government. Deputy Ward can take it as read that I do my very best to follow the programme for Government in its fullness. I also look to go beyond it. For example, reaching the families that I mentioned is not in the programme for Government but I want to do it. There are many other things I want to do to support students and families.
I do not want to talk about my own stuff but if there is more than one income coming into a house, it is taken out of the threshold. Talking to students and parents, all they see is that the Government broke its promise. They thought they would get a reduction of €500. The simple maths is that last year I paid €2,000 for my child's education in university and this year the cost is €2,500. You do not need to be a college professor to work out there has been a €500 increase. There is a bit of spin in this and the Minister has to admit this. What parents want to see is actual change in their pockets. The question they want me to ask is when they will see a further reduction in college fees and when they will see college fees totally abolished. This is what that people right across Dublin Mid-West and throughout the country want to know.
I am not sure where the mention of abolition came from. It certainly was not in my party's manifesto. I never promised it to anybody, not once in this brief, and not once in the campaign did I or my party promise this. I do not know what other people might have done. It is for them to speak about that. I am not aware of any such promise in any manifesto. What my party promised to do was to address the cost of education and this is what we are doing aggressively. We are going full steam ahead on it. This is why I have introduced a range of measures. The €500 permanent cut is the first of its kind. There is the fee subvention for households with an income up to €120,000. The student assistance fund is being increased. All of the basic layers of maintenance grants are being increased. It is worth recapping and restating that 80% of households, if we look at the ESRI income distribution chart, will now benefit from SUSI grants. The question is whether we will continue, and we will, with flat reductions, but the 20% of top earners are the ones who will benefit most from ongoing fee reductions. I will do this but I will also do things that support those in the 80% and the 20% at the bottom because it is socially just to do so.
Deputy Ward raised the issue of fees. His party in the North recently had an advertisement about student fees being £4,800. This is two and half times more.
The money comes from Westminster. If the Minister is that interested in the North he should run in an election up in the North.
Deputy Ward's party boasted about fees being £6,000 on social media.
The purse strings are held by Westminster and the Minister knows this. He is being disingenuous.
95. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the capital funding available to his Department for developments in the further education sector in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6900/26]
I very much welcome the substantial provision the Minister secured in the national development plan for capital developments in the further education sector. Thankfully, there has been a welcome emphasis in recent years on the development of the further education sector. Will the Minister outline some of the projects that will be progressed and will benefit from the funding available to his Department in 2026 for capital developments?
As part of the national development plan review, which was conducted last summer, I secured for the Department a capital allocation of €4.55 billion over the next four years from 2026 to 2030. This is significant and it is almost double what it was previously. It is the largest budget in the history of the Department. It is aligned to the overall capital envelope of the NDP. Part of this is because the Department's activities are so aligned with the whole-of-government missions, such as infrastructure needs to roll out housing for our people, the metro, transit, grid upgrades and water upgrades. The Department will train the tradesmen to do these jobs through the apprenticeship paths and programmes. There are also all of the skills that go with the digital agenda. We are entering an AI age. There is also the energy revolution with offshore wind and all of the opportunities that come with this. There are also healthcare and therapy needs, and we are scaling up the provision of courses for nine different occupations.
Additionally to this, the research and innovation aspect of the Department has received significant funding. Before Christmas I launched the €750 million INSPIRE research framework programme, which is fundamental to our knowledge economy, the ideas that we generate and how we succeed, innovate and remain competitive in a very robust and changing world. These are all significant capital projects. I was delighted to be able to secure these moneys and we have published the sectoral plan for the Department which provides a detailed breakdown. One project that might be of interest to Deputy Smith is the college of the future in Cavan. I thank him for the invitation to visit Cavan Institute recently. I still wear the top with pride; I was presented with a sporting jersey which I wear on my runs every week. The Cavan Institute is very much one of the projects I look forward to seeing progress in the time ahead. I might come back to it in a supplementary reply.
I thank the Minister for his response. With regard to Deputy Ward's concluding remarks, I very much welcome the fact that the Minister was the first Minister who was able to announce an all-Ireland university. He has worked very assiduously, along with Dundalk Institute of Technology and Queen's University, to have Dundalk Institute of Technology as a college of Queen's University. It is the first all-Ireland university we will have. This is practical and I very much welcome it.
I very much welcomed, as did the board of management and the staff and students in Cavan Institute, the Minister's recent visit. As Councillor Clifford Kelly, the chairperson of the board, indicated that day, a number of us have worked over the years to develop the college. We have seen it grow from being an extra class at second level in Breifne College to being a substantial provider of further education. Today it is one of the largest colleges in the country. We need additional accommodation, as the Minister saw himself at first hand. I sincerely hope his officials, working with Cavan and Monaghan ETB and Cavan Institute, will be able to progress the particular college of the future to the next stage so we can advance towards construction.
To pick up on Deputy Smith's remarks about Queen's University and Dundalk Institute of Technology, I had a meeting on it as recently as yesterday. I am really excited about it. Going back to the wider question, I will do everything in the programme for Government to the best of my ability but I will do other things. The Queen's University and Dundalk Institute of Technology merger was not in the programme for Government but I am doing it anyway. It is something that is very important and I am very excited about it. The all-Ireland dimension is huge. Deputy Smith is a big supporter of the all-Ireland dimension, as is Deputy McGreehan. We were at a function yesterday in connection with it. It is progressing and it is a very important milestone.
With regard to funding and capital for the Cavan area, with the relocation of the army barracks Cavan Institute received €5.3 million in funding in 2023. The centre of excellence for supply chain logistics was completed in September 2024 with €207,000. There is a minor capital works application in the pipeline at present for Cavan town. There are also electrical works, roof works and other ongoing and emergency works. The college of the future campus on the Cathedral Road is progressing and I am glad to be able to inform Deputy Smith and the House that I was successful in progressing it to the next stage of development. It is at pre-tender project design planning, procurement and supply stage and I very much hope to be in a position to update Deputy Smith and the House on further progress on it in the near future
I thank the Minister for his response and I know of his personal commitment to the project. As I assured him previously at the Oireachtas committee and at other meetings, when the project gets to tender stage it will be advanced as quickly as possible by Cavan and Monaghan ETB. We have an opportunity to work in conjunction with Monaghan Institute and South West College in Enniskillen. It is being practical, for which the Minister and I have advocated for many years. Thankfully, we are in a position today, with the political initiative since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, to have greater collaboration across different aspects of society. We have seen the all-Ireland economy grow. We now need to upskill our people, and to provide skills and training on an all-Ireland basis. Earlier today, the Oireachtas committee on further and higher education heard from representatives of IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Skillnet.
They were talking about a skills shortages. Thankfully, today we are talking about skills shortages in Ireland because in the past, unfortunately, we did not have employment opportunities. There is a great opportunity to utilise the potential of the further education sector to contribute to training and upskilling people for very worthwhile employment.
There is a real skills shortage. It is a factor of success because we are at almost full employment in the economy. Recently my Department produced a labour force modelling report which looked at our construction skills needs. I am working closely with Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, on the development of that report. That showed we need to continue to grow our pool of skilled tradespeople from our craft trades right across the board - all the skills we need to build the big infrastructure projects we aspire to develop over the course of this term which are funded through the national development plan. For almost the first time we actually have funding. What we need is an intermesh between the labour force and the skills to deliver. There are a number of ways we can do that but primarily it is through skilling and training our people. Things like modern methods of construction can be embraced which, as well as being more productive, also bring the employment opportunities to a more regional level because there can be factories developing modern methods of construction in a regional, rural location which are then shipped off to a building site in the big town or the big city without the worker having to commute every day. It addresses the gender balance in the workforce and things like that as well because it permits women with caring responsibilities and people with disabilities to work on a site like that because they may not be able to travel to a traditional construction site. It is beneficial for many reasons and is something we will continue to progress.
96. Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the work being undertaken by his Department to secure pathways to further and higher education for people with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5970/26]
I thank Teachta Ní Raghallaigh. Supporting students with disabilities is a key strategic priority for me, for my Department and for the Government. Indeed, we have a Cabinet subcommittee on disability which I sit on. My Department has taken on a number of actions through that because it is something we are determined to address across all of Government.
The National Access Plan identifies students with disabilities as a priority target group for subvention and supports. I spoke to the Deputy's colleague, Deputy Mark Ward, and others in the House about targeting supports. It is important that we target resources at those most in need. That is a fundamental principle we should adhere to.
The most recent figures show that new entrants into higher education with a disability have increased from 12.4% to 14.7%, so we are getting more participation in higher education from students with disabilities. That is really positive. We have a target of 16% which I think we will surpass. That is very good news but we need to continue to do that and to continue to explore the ways we can support such students.
One of the ways we can do that is through a flexible and agile system with many different pathways for learners to take as they navigate the further and higher education systems. One of the vehicles for supporting that is the fund for students with disabilities. That is a critical fund and in the recent budget, I was pleased to increase that by €3 million across both further and higher education. That will make a significant difference to over 22,000 students with disabilities for targeted supports they can avail of in the further education and higher education spheres.
We are also looking at things like the universal design which asks how we develop buildings with everything from sensory needs to textures to colours to navigation of spaces. That whole area of universal design for learning approach is critical and under the programme for access to higher education, I have provided €5.8 million to improve universal design across higher education institutions and to further educational institutions. It should not just be the colleges that get it; it should be across the board in every centre.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht an cheist seo a fhreagairt. I thank the Minister for outlining the work being carried out by himself and his officials. I will specifically turn to PATH 4 funding. I wholeheartedly support the advancements made in relation to universal design the Minister has been speaking about for learning in phase 1 and the course offerings provided for people with intellectual disabilities in 11 HEIs across the State under phase 2. I have had engagement with Trinity College, in particular, and I have been learning about the immense benefits of its programme in terms of empowerment, agency and work readiness. The programme for people with intellectual disability is state of the art. It is a world leader in the design of inclusive education and is ambitious in what it envisages for its students.
I look forward to reading the review of PATH 4 when it comes out and I hope to see funding for the programme mainstreamed in the next few years. However, in the meantime, there is a lot of uncertainty. Phase 2 funding is coming to an end this year and, as it stands, planning for the academic year 2026-2027 is at a standstill. Students do not know if enrolments will continue. Staff do not know if they will have jobs in September. Some colleges will not have an entire cohort through the programme by the time funding is due to expire.
The PATH 4 programme is a wonderful programme. It is a programme I am very passionate about. I am glad to hear the Deputy visited the Trinity Centre for Intellectual Disabilities. I have also been there. I met with the students, the learners and the educators. I have also been to the Field of Dreams in Bishopstown in County Cork and a lot of other centres, including in my own area of Naas and Sallins. The project there is for people with disabilities participating in education. They are all wonderful centres, and it is really great to see them doing so well.
We have, under PATH 4, a target of 160 students to participate. We actually have 193 students participating through PATH 4 in higher education institutions. That programme is currently spread across 11 different HEIs with a budget of €11 million. There is good regional spread. It was done on a competitive call basis with an expert independent panel to assign the funding. That has proven very successful. The model has to be responsive.
I take on board the Deputy's points about mainstreaming the funding. Our colleague, Deputy Ó Cearúil, raised that earlier as did others. It is something I am very mindful of. When I came into office I increased the funding by €5.8 million for a further two years, which was this year and last year. I will return to that very soon. I aspire to put that on a more sustainable, long-term basis.
I believe the goal in this sector in the medium term, alongside mainstreaming courses for students with intellectual disabilities in our colleges and third level institutions, must consider a national centre to co-ordinate those courses and ensure standards across them. We should be looking at introducing a separate stream of funding to pilot a programme for neurodivergent learners, learners with complex needs and learners with rare diseases based on the same model.
As all-Ireland education has come up already in this debate, it relates to the potential to expand this model to the North. I see the real potential here to export a world-class model and make a 32-county initiative of this. Strandmillis University College has produced a feasibility study and there is plenty of scope and interest. At the moment, there are 11 courses open to learners in the Twenty-six Counties but there is none available across the Border. I have spoken with my colleague in the Six Counties, Caoimhe Archibald, and she is enthusiastic about this project, and I am sure she would be interested in collaborating with the Minister's Department on this issue. Dundalk IT and Strandmillis University College fall under the same governance structure, which should facilitate this. I encourage the Minister to consider extending PATH 4 funding to support this initiative through DkIT.
Absolutely. The PATH 4 initiative is something I am very committed to and intend to mainstream. Certainly, I will be revisiting that in the coming weeks. I intend to speak to Cabinet colleagues on that and t o look to roll that out on a more permanent basis.
The Deputy makes an interesting point about the opportunity to have wider participation for students with complex needs. That is a good point and something I will take on board. We have a thing called the disability demonstration project at the moment, which is an exercise supported by academic research and a dedicated researcher to look at what interventions are appropriate at different levels and how we can broaden that. The Deputy mentioned Minister Archibald. I meet regularly with her and we have a very good working relationship. There is a number of items on our agenda which are shared. Just before Christmas in Farmleigh we announced all-island apprenticeships and the accounting technicians' body is on an all-Ireland basis. We talked about the Queen's University Belfast and DkIT consolidation. That is something I am really excited about, namely that all-island university potential that is coming to bear there and the disability supports and what we can do on an all-island basis. It is certainly something I would be very happy to support and explore with Minister Archibald. I do meet with her regularly in the North South Ministerial Council and in bilaterals. I have visited both Magee Campus in Derry and Queen's University in Belfast on a number of occasions since my appointment as well.
