Vol. 1089 No. 1
81. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to carry out a full review of the technological universities to ensure that they are reaching the targets set out for them when they were established. [49642/26]
Will the Minister carry out a full review of technological universities to ensure that they are reaching the targets set out for them when they were established?
Advancing the technological university, TU, and institute of technology, IoT, sector is a major priority for Government, and for me. This is evidenced by significant targeted investment over many years and demonstrates our commitment to balanced regional development, building research and innovation capacity and with it, Ireland’s global competitiveness, all while increasing access to university education for more students and delivering it on a regional basis as the TUs are doing.
My Department has provided extensive funding and support to aid the TUs that are undergoing extensive and complex transformation programmes. Most recently, I announced allocations of up to €65.8 million under the targeted enhancement fund, TEF, to support the continued transformation and strategic development of higher education institutions in the technological sector and publicly funded specialist colleges. That TEF funding is to enhance that offering in terms of capabilities and everything from information technology, IT, systems to project management and human resources management, and make sure they are fully strengthened and given the capacity-building supports they require.
At this point, legacy management structures in the IoTs, have transitioned to new cross-campus executive university management structures in four of the five TUs. The predecessors in the IoTs have been amalgamated into cross-campus executive teams. The final one, South East Technological University, SETU, is in transition and is currently being assessed. These roles are critical in supporting the TUs to deliver the strategic missions.
Additionally, I expect to see further progression now that I have sanctioned a new professor grade for TUs, which I secured Cabinet approval for just last December. That will support the TUs in their engagement, education, research and innovation capacities. I have also distributed over €223 million in capital funding to the sector across a variety of programmes over the past term, and I continue to work on the metrics under the TU Act, working towards the ambitions to make sure they are an absolute success.
I am not sure if the Minister is familiar with the recent report published by two Munster Technological University researchers. When asked if Irish TUs are failing, they concluded that the Irish TU project has been characterised by financial pressure, the death of regional provision in higher education, mission drift and confused policymaking, and that it has failed to meet any key targets. I acknowledge a lot of this was carried out before the Department of further and higher education was even established but it is still important to reflect on the success or failure of the concept.
Reading the report, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, was set on forcing IoT mergers through impoverishment of smaller institutions, and that there was a drop of 38% in State funding. Academic staff issues were largely ignored. There was very little meaningful engagement. In their applications for TU designation, all consortia stated that they expected increased student numbers and all except Technological University Dublin, TUD, stated that they expected an extra increase over the short term due to TU designation but this bounce never came to pass.
I am aware of the report. I have read it. I should say that has not yet been peer reviewed. It is a draft report by two academics in, I think, Tralee that is in circulation . I am open to all feedback and suggestions, but I add the caveat that it has not yet been peer reviewed. Other academics I have spoken to do not think it will pass the peer review process, but that is open-ended.
It is a curious report in many ways. One of the claims it contains is to the effect that the planned amalgamation between Dundalk Institute of Technology, DKIT, and Queen's University Belfast is a system failure. I find that quite extraordinary, because I think that is a great, ambitious and exciting all-island university project. It depends where you are coming from and I think those academics may have a particular axe to grind. They are entitled to have that - it is their prerogative - but I certainly would not share all of the report's findings. There may be hitting some points but I think it is a curious perspective they have taken.
More generally, I would say that TUs are not failing. The number of students, including research students, at the TUs continues to grow. There might be ups and downs, as in any sector, but, widely, they are growing, and they certainly they continue to invest.
We have a number of exciting, new courses. For example, the new professional veterinary course will be offered in both Atlantic Technological University, ATU, and South East Technological University, SETU, from this September. I might come back on this point in the next round. There are many new courses coming on stream.
As I said, this all started before this Department was created but there are a few outstanding questions. There is a difference in the salaries of TU graduates compared with those from the university sector. A total of €363 million was spent. Does the Minister think that represents value for money?
The Minister talked about research students, but there is a difference in this regard. Smaller institutions seem to be losing out while the larger ones seem to be gaining in some cases. That causes implications for the balance of power within the university sector and poses significant challenges to regional provision.
There are questions around fees for consultants. It is a massive issue, particularly when some consultants were appointed outside the procurement process. Some of them were former senior Government authorities, appointed to the very institutions they were responsible for regulating. A report on the whole needs to be looked at.
I am always open to feedback. The academics and authors of that report are entitled to their views, as are others. I just do not share all of their conclusions. As the Deputy said, the consultant spending was before my time. A lot of it was before the Department even existed. The TU sector on the whole has been an enormous success, however. We now have TUs up and down the country. We have regional universities in Letterkenny, Tralee and Waterford, places which never had university status before. There are many other locations as well. It is exciting for those regional areas and towns and their hinterlands.
I mentioned the veterinary course in ATU. That means that we now have veterinary students coming through from Donegal, Sligo and the north west who do not have to travel to Dublin or, even worse, Poland for their professional education. I was in Waterford recently launching the new SEAM lab, which is a material science facility as part of SETU. It will engage in exciting, leading-edge and enterprise-focused research. The TUs have been a tremendous success already, providing world-class university education in the regions, along with investment in research.
In respect of reviews, spending controls etc. the HEA has commissioned a review of both the technological university transformation fund, TUTF, and the technological sector advancement fund, TSAF. There are reports under way. We always have to ensure we are getting value for money, spending competitively and getting resources to meet our approach.
82. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to reduce fees for this coming academic year ahead of the summer break, CAO results and planning for the academic year ahead. [50685/26]
The summer break is ahead. I am sure many leaving certificate students are relaxing on a beach somewhere. Others have got jobs and are planning the year ahead. They are trying to figure out what they are going to do next year, how they are going to do it, where they are going to live, etc. However, what they want to know the most is the level of fees next year and whether it will be reduced.
I thank the Deputy. I wish all students sitting examinations the very best of luck, as well as all those students who are coming to an end of their secondary education, whether they are going to college, further education or elsewhere. Like the Deputy, I will not get much of a break. While this House breaks up in two or three weeks’ time, I will host the European research Ministers the week after that. There are a number of engagements over the summer as part of the Presidency. We will all be busy in our constituencies as well. I hope those in this House get some break, however. It is important to get a chance to recharge.
While there are several hundred commitments in the programme for Government, every year, this budgetary measure seems to be the one that gets asked four or five months ahead of the budget process. No more than any Minister in any Department, I simply cannot write the October budget in June or July. However, I will engage with the Ministers in the Department of Finance and the Department of public expenditure on this. A budget Estimate package is being put together in my Department. I am working with my officials to devise it. It will focus on the cost of college and supporting students in every way I can. That can be multifaceted. While it can include fees, it may also include areas such as SUSI, student accommodation, cost of travel, cost of materials and a variety of other things, such as placements. We will be engaging on all of those areas. Certainly, it would be premature for me to make any prediction, good, bad or indifferent, as to the content of my budget package four months out.
I will recap on some of the measures I have introduced already because it is important to put them on the record again. In the previous budget, I was pleased to introduce the first ever permeant fee cut for students since free fees were introduced almost 30 years ago with a €500 permanent reduction. It replaced the transient, previous cost-of-living measures, which were only ever temporary and could not be relied upon year to year. The €500 reduction is here to stay. It has benefitted an estimated 108,000 undergraduate students and 14,000 apprentices. That reduction cost €55.4 million this year. It is baked in at the baseline. While I may well do more every year, that reduction is there to stay. It is not temporary like previous measures. As I said, going into the budget ahead, I will again be engaging on fees and many other items. While fees are extremely important for anyone who is liable to pay them, many families and students do not pay them at all because they are subsidised, either in full or in part, by the SUSI grant system.
I know people were happy with the reduction. It is swings and roundabouts as to whether the total level went up or down, but it is what it is. No one in this House can deny the challenges students face. Of course, there are students who do not pay because of SUSI. I appreciate that the threshold for SUSI increased, but there are students stuck in the middle. This is the challenge. We have heard of students sleeping in cars or dropping out because they cannot afford it. Some students are working almost full-time jobs to get through their college course. This is not what we want. As I have said before in this House, the love of learning is why we want students to go to third level, whatever course they decide to do.
Students who have just finished the leaving certificate or the leaving certificate applied have been under huge pressure. They need time to figure out who they are and what they want to do and discover what the future might hold for them. However, if they are under massive pressure during this time, they will not be able to do that. That will cause students to leave third level education, which will affect their self-esteem and all the different parts of their life.
I am committed to continue to reduce the cost of college and support measures, including fee reductions, wherever I can. Let us talk to the two cohorts the Deputy mentioned. Students sleeping in cars is an appalling vista. Of course, no student should be in that situation. If those students are paying fees, something has gone badly wrong. The only students who should be paying full fees – they are €2,500 because they have been reduced by €500 on a flat rate – are those students in households with an income above €120,000. If a student has a household income of €120,000 and is sleeping in a car, something is not adding up. I invite any student in that situation to engage with me. Alternatively, they can engage with the Deputy and she can bring it to my attention. We can then see whether something is slipping through the cracks because that should not be happening.
When it comes to students working full time, I have increased the student disregard for SUSI eligibility to ensure that students’ part-time work is not counted against them when they are applying for their grants.
I have also taken a number of other measures as well as increasing the threshold to €120,000, which brought more and more students into the system. When it comes to the non-adjacent rates, I increased the grants for any student who has to travel 30 km or more to college. There is also more funding for students with disabilities or mental health challenges. A variety of packages have been introduced in the last budget. I hope to do a lot more in the coming budget but four months out is too early to outline exactly what it will contain.
The Minister is right about students sleeping in their car whose parents earn over €100,000. While €100,000 is a huge amount of money, the difficulty and challenge are when there are several children in the family also in college or doing things. That puts pressure on family budgets. We have also spoken in this Chamber about students who are alienated from their parents but cannot access SUSI grants because their income is based on what their parents earn. We need to iron that out. While we are talking about a small number of students in this situation, we need to iron it out completely to have an education system inclusive of everyone.
Of course, it is not just young people struggling with fees. Older people who decide to go back to college are also affected. It is a huge strain on them. I am aware of a mother who is under huge pressure. She is a lone parent and has to pay fees on top of paying rent and trying to get her kids through things. It is a challenge. We need to be as supportive as we can. It is not just about those aged 17 and 18 going to college; it is also about the older person who decides to go back to college or go to college for the first time. They need to be supported as much as we can. Broadly, it may work for most, but it does not work for everyone, and we must focus on including everyone.
I agree with what the Deputy said. For the record, it is €120,000 rather than €100,000. I increased the threshold last year. Indeed, the Tánaiste, when he held this portfolio, increased it before me. We have continued to increase that threshold to the level that up to 70% of Irish households now qualify for at least some form of fee subvention. In fact, all benefit from the universal measures but 70% of households are now eligible for other supports.
The Deputy mentioned the scenario of multiple children from a household attending college. These are the cases I would like to look at in a bit more detail in order to see how they might be dealt with by means of targeted measures as opposed to taking a one-size-fits-all approach, which we may well do also. We must consider whether there are particular courses that are missing out at the moment and on which we could focus? The Deputy mentioned the alienation scenario, which is always raised with me and which I am taking a good look at in order to identify what we can do.
There are a number of other measures. The student accommodation strategy is up and running. Some results have begun to emerge already and some proposals emanating from the strategy in terms of greater accommodation provision. I hope to see that being accelerated as fast as possible. We have invited all colleges to make submissions in respect of the strategy. There are a number of different facets to the cost of attending college and making life easier for students.
I call Deputy Kenny.
There is a question in my name, but Deputy McGettigan's question is the next to be taken.
83. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to review the issue of commuter student terminology; and to recognise the poor experience of many commuter students in the higher education system. [49643/26]
Will the Minister initiate a discussion around commuter student terminology? Will he recognise the poor experience of the many commuter students in the higher education system?
For some students, commuting to college may be a practical choice if they live close to campus. For many others, however, it is not a choice; it is a necessity. This is not about preferences; it arises as a result of accommodation shortages. Two of my daughters recently commuted to college, so I understand it gives rise to an additional burden and can be an impediment in terms of full participation in campus life. One of the things I have said is that it is an absolute goal of mine to allow students to have the full college experience, which means experiencing broader education, taking courses outside of their core disciplines, taking part in the whole networking experience, participating in student societies and doing all of the things that are part of college life. The provision of high-quality student accommodation at scale on campus is a lever to unlock that. It is critical that we deliver this.
In the context of those students who are commuting for their own reasons, including with regard to the distance they live from campus or for family reasons, it is important to recognise that we want to support them in terms of their need to commute and what we can do in each case. We provide student accommodation for those who want to live on campus or adjacent to it, but we also want to support the commuter student experience in other ways.
The national student accommodation strategy published in March found that in 2024, the most recent year for which data are available, 18% of students living at home experienced commutes that are considered to be excessive. That highlights the ongoing need for suitable accommodation, and that is central to the planning in the student accommodation strategy. One of the reasons I increased the level of grants in the most recent budget was to recognise the additional costs for students who are commuting and travelling long distances. People also have access to the student assistance fund, student accommodation systems and 1916 bursary. An additional €10.5 million has been made available this year to support those students, and 30,000 or more undergraduate and postgraduate students have benefited as a result. Collectively, those measures recognise the additional burden faced by students who are commuting to college and should go some way towards assisting them.
I take this opportunity to mention a study by Professor Liz Thomas that was informed by a commitment to institutional change rather than just expecting commuter students to fit in with unreformed higher education institutions, HEIs, which states:
This would be facilitated by an institutional enabling environment which involves aligning institutional policies, processes and organisations, and engaging with stakeholders from senior leadership to staff and students around a shared goal of an inclusive experience and equitable outcomes ...
I have spoken to students about this. I spoke to students at Jigsaw yesterday who informed me that they feel that nobody seems to be talking or speaking to them about this and that they want to be recognised as a group. They said it is a burning issue for them. One of the issues they spoke about was having to get public transport at times that do not match up with their lectures. They get to college very early and do not get home until late at night. They have to leave early. The Minister says he wants them to enjoy the whole college experience, but they are not able to do this. Because of the issue with buses, some of them are missing lectures. There is a poor outcome in some data which shows that those making long commutes are suffering.
I talk to students all the time. I have almost daily interactions with them. I also meet formally with AMLÉ on a regular basis. I sad down with its representatives very recently and had a good chat. That is an ongoing conversation I am involved in.
In terms of what initiatives can be taken, I welcome the Deputy’s reference to Professor Thomas's report. If she wants to share it with me, I will be to look at it and see if we can action some of the recommendations it contains. One thing we are actioning is a new pilot initiative to bring together the higher education institutions, the National Transport Authority, NTA, councils and transport operators to look at a pilot scheme to improve sustainable commuting for students and to consider the different routes and timetables and the journeys that students make in order to see if can we make sure they are all aligned and synchronised to support the student experience. The Government has supported young people with the young adult Leap card, which complements the student Leap card and which offers a 50% discount on travel fares across the Transport for Ireland network. That is practical assistance. My children use the student Leap card, which is a very helpful and practical support.
I very much welcome the NTA, local councils and students being brought together. That is going to be very positive in terms of helping those who are commuting. The TU students' union also brought out a report. It states that approximately 25% of students say they have to commute for two hours or more. When I spoke to students about having to commute on buses for that length of time, we discussed whether they could use it as study time. However, it emerged that travel sickness would prevent some people using it for that purpose. That is on top of everything else. It will be great if that group works out and if helps students, because then will then be able to enjoy some of the overall college experience. At the end of the day, however, as the Minister mentioned earlier, the lack of student and affordable accommodation is an issue, particularly when it comes to trying to resolve the situation in its entirety.
I used to commute by train and would try to get a bit of work done, but it depends on the nature of a person's journey and whether they suffer from travel sickness or whatever. This goes back to the core point I made at the start that while some students might find it convenient and preferable, it would be really unfair to suggest - and I would never do so - that students are doing it by choice in all cases. Some people just have no choice and would prefer to have accommodation close to campus. That is why we have a pilot scheme.
I have engaged with the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, in the context of our Departments working together on this matter. I am looking to drill down into the detail of smarter travel plans and of aligning matters. When we are meet representatives of colleges, they will inform us that there is a pattern of issues, including no bus stops outside lecture halls, students having to walk a mile down the road or whatever to get a bus or timetables not being aligned with lecture times. There are quick wins that we can identify by means of the pilot scheme. We can also look at ways to pull everything together in a way that works better for students and colleges. There may well be some relatively easy changes that we can make. If there are, we will certainly make them.
I apologise to Deputy McGettigan for getting the call wrong earlier.
84. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the way in which apprenticeship provision to the higher education sector is funded; and whether his Department expects the funding in question will be used to increase administrative and support staffing in line with the growth in apprentice numbers and the recruitment of additional lecturing staff, technicians and heads of trades, given that some institutions have recorded increases in apprentice registrations of up to 72%, without any corresponding increase in administrative staff. [50204/26]
There is a positive aspect to this question. In the context of the way in which apprenticeship provision is funded through his Department, does the Minister expect the funding in question to be used to increase administrative and support staffing in line with the growth in apprenticeship numbers, for the recruitment of additional lecturing staff, technicians, and heads of trades, given that some institutions have recorded an increase in apprenticeship registration of up to 72%, without any corresponding increase in administrative staff. We have seen an increase in the number of apprenticeships people are taking up. In lie with that, the number of administrative staff and those teaching apprentices must also be increased.
As the Deputy said, very fairly and positively, investing in Ireland’s apprenticeship system is a central priority for me, as Minister, and my Department. Investment in the apprenticeship system has more than doubled, from a base of €184 million in 2020 to more than €415 million this year. That is very significant increase in investment in the apprenticeship sector. It reflects the Government's focus on the apprenticeship system and includes support staff, administrative staff and staff in other roles.
I am not aware of the specific case the Deputy referenced. He mentioned that there are some cases where support and administrative staff to go with the apprentices have not been provided. I am very open to the Deputy coming to me with the details in that regard. I will then be happy to interrogate the matter a little further if there is an issue in a particular location.
Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies with responsibility for managing their own staff and resources. My Department provides them with significant funding, but, to an extent, how they manage that in terms of staff hires or otherwise, is within their own control and remit.
This year, my Department is providing €113 million in apprenticeship funding to the HEA. That money will be suballocated to the higher education institutions. It covers the full costs of delivery, including operational costs like those relating to staffing. For craft apprenticeships, funding is provided by means of block grants, with a set amount allocated to each apprenticeship training block delivered by individual providers.
That allocation covers all apprenticeship costs, including teaching, technical and administrative staff costs. For consortia-led apprenticeships, the Higher Education Authority agrees a unit cost with providers that covers the full cost of delivery, including staff costs. Decisions on recruitment, deployment and internal resourcing are matters for the institution themselves, but notwithstanding that, I am happy to have a look at the individual case. I might refer it on to the relevant HEI or education and training board, ETB, as appropriate. If the Deputy likes, he can bring it to my attention and I can do that.
More broadly, SOLAS has been tasked with working through the apprenticeship system and making sure that we address any backlogs that have arisen and fast-track the creation of more places.
That is appreciated. Institutions have come to me directly to say that, although they understand that they are the ones that deploy staff to the busiest departments of their institutions, they feel that there is not enough funding coming to them to do so, given the increase in apprenticeships in all of their institutions.
While I thank the Minister for giving me the opportunity to focus on one particular institution, there is a broader aspect to this question. We have seen a significant number of people taking up apprenticeship roles in this country, which is positive and I thank the Minister and his officials in the Department for that. Is the Department looking at giving additional funding for the institutions to provide them with the opportunity to employ more staff, including technicians and administrative staff, so that they can keep pace with the number of students coming to them looking for help with their apprenticeships?
A few recent recruitment drives have been undertaken. SOLAS launched a recruitment campaign in late 2024 for new further education and training, FET, instructor staff nationwide. A campaign was run in the national media looking to recruit those personnel. One of the outputs of that saw the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB in Loughlinstown fill a number of electrical instructor posts through a radio advertising campaign. Another five training centres in the City of Dublin ETB were also supported through that. There were various different recruitment campaigns looking to fill other posts. Some 135 posts were filled as a result. It started with the electrical instructors but it spread right across to carpentry and joinery, plumbing, motor mechanics, pipe fitting, heavy goods vehicles, HGVs, metal fabrication, advanced manufacturing, hairdressing and much more. I will not go through every single area. There were a couple of dozen different disciplines that had increased recruitment as a result of the campaigns. We are certainly trying. In some cases, the difficulties may not be due to a lack of budget, but a lack of available staff. That is why we are trying to do recruitment campaigns to bring in instructors, support staff and people for other such roles.
I am sure that the Minister is aware of this but I want to put it on the record. The figure of 72% came to me through Munster Technological University, MTU, in Tralee, which the Minister is very familiar with and has visited. It is important to put that on the record, but it is also important to outline the broader aspect of it. We hear a great deal about the need to build more homes, deliver major infrastructural projects and strengthen Ireland's competitiveness. None of these ambitions can be achieved unless we invest in the people who train our apprentices. Investment in apprenticeships is not simply an education issue, but an economic necessity. I know the institutions where staff have worked tirelessly to accommodate record numbers of apprenticeships, like MTU in Tralee. It is important that we continue to put this on the record.
Over the last 18 months in the Chamber, we have had robust debates about apprenticeships. There are a lot of challenges facing apprenticeships. I will specifically mention pay and conditions for apprentices. I know that is being worked through with the Department, albeit perhaps through a piecemeal approach. I again want to put on the record that the number of people taking up apprenticeships in every sector is positive, and has been so for the last 18 months.
I entirely agree. I thank Deputy Kenny for his support and the support of his party on the broader policy initiative. What he says is true. I have visited MTU in Tralee. I have visited all of the different technological universities, TUs, and their components at least once, if not a few times. I recently held a construction skills roundtable event in UCD where we brought together the employers in the construction space, the trade unions and the training agencies - SOLAS, the ETBs and the HEA for a conversation on exactly that.
The Deputy touched on our ambition as a Government to build housing and infrastructure at scale, be it the metro, the DART+ projects, the roads network, renewable energy or the energy grid. We are investing significantly in all of these under the national development plan, with a budget of over €200 billion over the lifetime of the Government. To meet infrastructure, housing and other needs, we must have the capacity to build this out. That requires multiple craft apprenticeships coming on stream and being supported, and having that pipeline of talent coming through. I am committed to driving that on. It is a key part of our national initiative.
85. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science whether he will intervene urgently to address the concerns raised by petitioners, unions and academic bodies in a recently published open letter (details supplied), by immediately providing ring-fenced funding for non-commercial research. [50756/26]
I am sure the Minister is aware of it but I want to draw his attention to the open letter signed by more than 2,300 academics and researchers, which rings the alarm bell about Research Ireland's 2026 to 2030 strategy. The letter states, "The new strategy is structurally, rhetorically and materially focused on commercially translatable research and economic impact rather than supporting bedrock, fundamental, discovery research and research for the public good." Will the Minister take this on board and meet the petitioners? Will he intervene?
As the Deputy is aware, Taighde Éireann - Research Ireland - was established in 2024 with the legislative remit to promote excellence and research across all activity fields and disciplines. Its first strategy was published this March following extensive consultation. I am satisfied that the strategy meets the legislative remit of the agency. The strategy and the publicly available programme plan accord with my own central philosophy, which applies just two very simple criteria to all disciplines: research should be excellent and impactful. What "impactful" means is not defined narrowly, but very broadly. It can mean many things. It can be societal resilience, economic impact or a long-term, slow-burn project that manifests in an entirely different way than how it was first conceived, as with all basic and frontier research. Impact is not a narrow metric at all; it is quite a wide one.
I have also codified into my Department's strategy as one of its four central pillars that curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge are a public good, which speaks to the benefit of discovery research a priori without any particular exit conditions or targets at the start. The strategy has a balanced portfolio across all disciplines and career stages, with funding across different areas of study, from the arts, humanities and social sciences, AHSS, through to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM - and across the spectrum of funding.
I am very familiar with the letter. Obviously, I have read it but I also met the petitioners and the lead authors of it very recently. I am engaging with them. The Deputy quoted one line from the letter. I think they have actually resiled from that line because when we met, they refocused their attention on one or two particular items. I dare say there is a level of rhetoric or subjectivity in the letter - that is their prerogative. Some of the arguments do not stand up to scrutiny but others have more merit and I am engaging with them on those. I was open to engaging with them on all of the arguments but a number of those are perhaps a little bit political or subjective. Having said that, there certainly are some very good people involved and I have been engaging with them. I have asked Research Ireland to have a structured engagement with the group going forward to ensure the petitioners' concerns are heard and reflected in the new plan.
It seems to me that what has happened is effectively a corporate or partially corporate capture of our research programme. If it continues, this is going to be to the detriment of all of us and the detriment of our education system and society, which will lose out on research that does not have an immediate commercial application and, therefore, is not being prioritised under the new strategy.
The petitioners emphasise that there was a lack of participatory process in the development of this strategy. It was not based on evidence. They emphasise that what we see here is industry-centred, commercially-focused, profit-seeking priorities at the expense of arts, humanities and social sciences. In particular, they warn about the dismantling of the current PhD scholarship and postdoctoral fellowship programmes. That is what is being proposed, with a prioritisation of research that is profit related and commercially driven by corporations. This would be to the detriment of us all.
There were seven bullet points in the letter. I think six of them have been accepted as perhaps not being of the same level of concern as they were. The engagement was helpful in that regard because of the engagement with the authors on a number of those points.
I strongly reject the assertion of a corporate culture. Again, maybe it is a little bit political and subjective.
I appreciate that the Deputy is entitled to say it but I do not think it is a fair characterisation. There is no requirement whatsoever that there be an immediate, or any, economic impact. In fact, the strategy is very wide-ranging and allows for significant funding of discovery research, which I have always argued for. There are no metrics tied to corporate outputs, as the Deputy might have suggested. That was probably more than a little unfair.
I take the point on the Government of Ireland scholarship. That is the one that we agree needs to be revisited and examined. There are certainly merits in the proposed new approach but I also accept that there are legitimate concerns raised as well. There is engagement under way, facilitated by myself but ultimately between Research Ireland and the research community. I have had a number of meetings on that in recent weeks and will continue to do so.
Just to confirm, the Minister is saying that he is open to changes continuing to take place to this strategy. That would obviously be welcome. I ask the Minister to commit to prioritising research that is for the public good. "Research on economic inequities, democratic participation, mental health, housing injustices, climate justice, education, and the full range of human experiences and societal processes must be valued on its own terms". That is a quote from the petition, which I think is very important. The current proposal suggests that non-applied research has to demonstrate its future economic utility in order to qualify for funding. That is precisely the problem with a short-term economic utility focus, which then leads to a downgrading of humanities, social sciences and so on in favour of those that have a more immediate commercial application, which would be a real problem.
I do not think it actually does say that. I say that in a genuine spirit of partnership. I am not trying to catch the Deputy out or correct him. If he can find where it says that and bring it to my attention, I would welcome him doing so and we will have a look at it. I know the letter makes those claims but I do not think they are borne out in a detailed study of the strategy. If they are, it is not something I would support. I have been on the record of this House for many years saying that we need to support research across the full technology readiness level, TRL, spectrum from discovery and frontier research right through to applied. Of course, applied research has a really strong place in economic engagement and driving our enterprise and our knowledge economy is at the core. That creates jobs, talent and knowledge that can support both our economy and our society. Equally, discovery research is ultimately at the heart of all knowledge. Most of the leading, significant progressions of society and civilisation have come about through discovery research.
In terms of funding for the arts, humanities and so on, that is ring-fenced within the strategy. It is proportionate to international comparisons and benchmarks, and certainly on a par with the historic funding of arts, humanities and so on through different research agencies such as the Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland or the previous organisations. There is no reduction in that at all in the strategy or elsewhere. In fact, it is actually a ring-fenced fund.
