Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 8 Oct 2024

I thank the Deputy. There has been a high demand from employers and learners alike for craft apprenticeship in recent years, reflecting a strong construction sector and the Government's commitment to the targets within Housing for All and the climate action plan, and to the delivery of the national development plan. Craft apprentice registrations increased by 25% from 2019 to 2023. As a result of the urgent work my Department initiated in November 2023 to increase craft training capacity, the number of training places has increased from 5,600 in 2019 to over 7,500 currently, which is a 34% increase. The National Apprenticeship Office's recruitment campaign for additional apprentice instructors, which was launched in November 2023, has been an important pillar of this plan. The Department sanctioned 134 instructor posts in support of this campaign. We are very pleased to report that over 87 posts have been filled nationally, with three more offers in progress. They will deliver courses across 11 craft apprenticeships in the four industry families, which are construction, electrical, engineering and motor, along with and one of the consortia-led programmes. We will provide the Deputy with a detailed breakdown table in that regard.

Further posts will also be advertised throughout the remainder of 2024 and into 2025. In addition, to support retention in the apprenticeship workforce my Department also converted 80 apprenticeship instructor posts from fixed term to permanent. The recent announcement of €77.4 million investment for apprenticeship in budget 2025 is the single largest core investment in apprenticeship since the formation of our Department in July 2020. This funding will be important to support the educators who will equip young people, career changers and those returning to update or improve their skills with the knowledge and know-how that employers are looking for.

We all know there have been major backlogs in the apprenticeship system. We all know of the necessity of apprenticeships across the board and particularly craft apprenticeships. It is not uncommon for apprentices wait for up to 18 months to be called for the relevant phase of their off-the-job training, whether in a technical university, TU, or education and training board, ETB. There has been an enormous level of criticism of the Government for this particular issue. We have seen high dropout rates. The backlog means that apprentices are being paid less for longer, as their rate of pay is tied to the relevant phase of training.

The Minister of State has said that the plan was for 134 places. Some 87 of those have been filled, with three in play and the rest to follow. Will the Minister of State give me a timeline in that regard? We need to ensure we have these people in place so we can get through the backlog that exists. We must ensure that these apprentices are paid what they deserve and enter the workforce to do the necessary work, particularly in construction.

I will clarify a point because I may have misspoken earlier. The number of training places has grown by 40% since the end of 2023, from over 5,600 places in December 2023 to 7,500 places in August 2024. As I previously said to the Deputy, over 130 instructor posts have been sanctioned to date. As I said, 80 such posts have been filled. The Deputy asked for a timeline. The remaining posts will be advertised across the end of this year and into next year.

The Deputy also referenced the backlog. We can provide a table to the Deputy. The number of apprentices waiting six months or longer at phase 2 in July 2023 was 6,166. In August 2024, the number had fallen to 2,484.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I welcome that information. We need to see this happen quicker and better. It is as simple as that. Some of the difficulty with the backlog and filling the spaces is that some of these qualified tradespeople can earn more on site than in the classroom. In its alternative budget, Sinn Féin set out €4.4 million in financial supports to incentivise those currently working on sites to undertake the necessary classroom teaching. What has the Minister of State considered to ensure we can get the number up to 134 or more, if required, to make sure we can deliver with regard to the backlog and, beyond that, to ensure we can deliver the stream of apprentices that we absolutely require, particularly across the construction sector? I do not have to point out to anyone here the absolute necessity of ensuring we have the ability to deliver on whatever targets are set by the Government and whoever is in government next.

The Deputy is asking what else can be done to help to reduce the backlog. The National Apprenticeship Office launched a recruitment campaign across several media in November. That campaign used a centralised National Apprenticeship Office platform for applications. Added to that, a new advanced block approval process for the posts was put in place and the approval process was delivered through our Department and the Department of Education. It will be used to streamline the sanctions into the future. As the Deputy will fully appreciate, we are in a competitive labour market as we try to attract people into these roles because of the buoyancy of the labour market, which is at full employment. The aim of the campaign was to support the delivery of that increased capacity and I have outlined to the Deputy what we have achieved to date and how. Well over half of the posts have been filled. It is our obligation and intention to drive on that process and fill the remaining posts by the end of next year.

I ask the Minister of State to outline the funding that will go to each university for the delivery of student accommodation beds. Will he provide a timeline for when construction will begin? We all understand that the price of accommodation at third level is an enormous issue for students and, in many cases, for their families. A considerable number of people will miss out on their educational journeys on that basis. This issue needs to be dealt with.

Through budget 2025, we secured €6 million of annual recurrent funding to support the activation of up to 1,200 student accommodation beds in regional campus locations. A leasing programme is being developed as a key deliverable arising from the recent TU student accommodation study. At least 30% of the beds delivered through this programme will be provided at below market rate to a target cohort of students.

In addition, €1 million in annual funding has been secured to provide staffing resources in the sector to build a dedicated capacity for examining and addressing campus needs with regard to student accommodation and supports for students in accessing accommodation. A further €500,000 will be invested in developing campus action plans to identify and address accommodation and sustainable transport needs for the colleges and students in accessing their education. This builds on the investment of €100 million in State support for the first time to deliver student accommodation through the national development plan under our Department’s short-term activation programme. This funding enabled activation of the student accommodation project for UCD for the delivery of 493 beds. It is planned that construction will commence on this project in 2025, subject to successful completion of due diligence assessments and the tender process. The funding also enabled progression of projects at Maynooth University and DCU. I am pleased that the Maynooth project is currently at construction stage with expected delivery of 116 beds in September 2025. DCU’s project is progressing through the tender process and, subject to successful completion of this process, is expected on site in quarter 1 of 2025.

The provision of student accommodation has become incredibly bad in the time of this Government and the previous one. The Minister of State outlined that it is proposed to spend €100 million on student accommodation over three years. He also outlined some of the measures that have been delivered. He referred to the fact that 30% of what will be delivered will be provided at below the market rate. I am interested in hearing how that determination has been made.

The Minister of State gave a timeline for UCD, Maynooth and DCU. What else is in the pipeline? We all know there was a significant number of universities with a lot of land, some with planning permission for student accommodation, and what they needed was viable financial packages to be put in place. The accommodation is necessary. What is the timeline and what are the overall targets the Government hopes to deliver on?

I wish to refer to the student accommodation strategy. The long-term student accommodation policy was approved by the Government in January 2024. This policy will inform future student accommodation strategies and schemes that are being developed throughout 2024 and beyond. The dual-benefit policy aims to increase the supply of specific accommodation, therefore removing students from the private rental market and increasing housing availability for private individuals and families.

I wish to refer to the technological university, TU, feasibility study because, as the Deputy well knows, we have a number of new technological universities. We conducted a TU feasibility study with the aim of developing a programmatic approach to facilitate future TU student accommodation proposals. The demand analysis, which was an output of phase 1 of the study, will inform the framework for delivery models of funding options as part of the second phase of the study. Phase 2, which is to identify potential proposals for the technological university sector for the delivery of student accommodation, is currently under way.

I thank the Minister of State. I am well aware of the technological university sector. The Minister and I have spoken before about the fact that Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT, is not in that box at the moment, but we hope the relationship with Maynooth will be successfully concluded. Across the board, we must make sure that places like Dundalk and the other TUs will have the ability to provide necessary accommodation, and that money will be provided for that to be a sustainable option for TUs and universities.

We can talk about the difficulties that exist for students, some of whom cannot make it to college. I welcome any information the Minister of State can give, in particular on timelines and targets for both universities and TUs.

The key to student accommodation is the same as it is for housing: to increase the supply. We must bring on more supply to address the demand. We also have an obligation to try to reduce costs. That is the reason we put a lot of work into the standard design for purpose-built student accommodation, which is similar to the school building programme, for example, whereby there is a standardised design that helps move projects forward more quickly. In that regard, we set up an expert multidisciplinary design team and appointed it to research and develop new design standards for State-supported purpose-built student accommodation. The successful consortium comprised Metropolitan Workshop, KPMG and ORS Consulting. The project will be key to establishing best practice and value for money for the State in ensuring the affordability of additional supply for students and delivering modern, purpose-built student accommodation facilities that are functional and sustainable.

I also briefly mention the existing rent-a-room scheme, where people who offer a room can avail of up to €14,000 tax free, which is a considerable tax concession.

Could I ask the Minister of State about the changes to the SUSI thresholds, as per budget 2025? Could he provide an estimate for the additional number of students who will now qualify for the grant? That is the information we seek. We are all well aware that students are struggling with the cost of living and the cost of accommodation, as per the previous question. If more people can avail of SUSI grants, it will facilitate them to attend the college they want.

We are pleased to be in a position to increase all income threshold limits for student grants in budget 2025. From September 2025, we are increasing the special rate of maintenance threshold from €26,200 to €27,400 in line with social welfare increases. We are increasing all other maintenance and student contribution grant thresholds by 15%. We are also increasing the postgraduate fee contribution threshold and the part-time scheme threshold to match the new 100% student contribution threshold, which will now be €64,315.

By increasing income thresholds, including the €500 student contribution grant, from €100,000 to €115,000, it is estimated that approximately 3,000 to 4,000 students who previously did not qualify for student support may now be eligible for the first time. However, it is important to also point out that by making these improvements, approximately 41,000 existing students who are expected to be eligible for maintenance bands 2 to 4 or fee grants this year may also benefit from these measures. If their income has grown, the measure may mean they will not be disadvantaged next year by a lower rate, and if their income remains static, they may benefit by a higher rate.

This is the largest increase to maintenance thresholds since the creation of SUSI and underlines the Government's commitment to inclusion. This measure will ensure students in need of financial assistance are not disadvantaged by recent rising income growth. It will also ensure continued supports to students, including students who are under-represented in higher education.

We all know from people who approach us in our offices, that some miss out on the basis of what are sometimes very small amounts. We are talking about people that do not necessarily earn spectacular amounts of money, and who are under severe pressure. It would make a great difference to increase the number of those availing of a SUSI grant, or to provide an increased level of grant. I welcome the fact that 3,000 to 4,000 more students will qualify. What we have to deal with is the overall cost. As I outlined, in some cases financial struggles are stopping people from attending certain colleges and courses. Students are under severe pressure in travelling to the college. There has been an increase in the student hardship fund but many students who try to access it find it incredibly difficult. The overall issue relates to how we fund universities but also how we fund and facilitate families to enable their kids to go to college.

In addition to what I outlined in my previous contribution, we have also introduced a number of other measures to reduce the cost of education, including providing €9 million to increase the PhD stipend from €22,000 to €25,000 per annum. That will benefit approximately 3,000 postgraduates. As the House will be aware, we have a one-off reduction in the student contribution fee of €1,000, which will benefit an estimated 103,000 higher education students who are eligible for the free-fees initiative.

Some €10 million is being provided to the student assistance fund. There is a one-off increase in the postgraduate fee contribution, increasing from €4,000 to €5,000 per annum, which is estimated to benefit about 2,000 students. There is also a one-off 33% reduction in the student fee for 14,000 apprentices attending higher education institutions.

I welcome that information about those who will benefit. As I stated previously, there is a large number of people who still do not benefit and are under severe pressure. We have to deal with the whole issue right through from the cost of living to the huge cost of accommodation. At times some students are under pressure. The USI produced a survey showing that some students are having to skip meals. This is not anything that anybody in here wants to see. We need to make sure we have a system that does not leave kids or students in that set of circumstances. The student hardship fund has been increased but there are issues in respect of accessing it and only very small amounts are disbursed. This needs to be looked at. We need a bespoke solution for those who are under severe pressure and families that are under severe pressure.

I thank the Deputy. He referred to the student assistance fund which, since the establishment of this Department in July 2020, has grown significantly to €20.6 million. The Deputy will also be aware that the autonomy afforded to our higher education institutions in terms of administering the student assistance fund locally is crucially important. The student services offices in each of the higher education institutions manage the money. They receive the money as a block grant. It is up to them to manage it. They set the criteria. The applications are made to them. They are at the front line dealing with the students. They have the local knowledge and awareness of the students' particular circumstances when they are presenting to make an application to the student assistance fund. It is right and proper that we have invested significantly into that. It is another avenue which is available to students. I think it is managed quite well by the local institutions, and rightly so.

I thank the Deputy. Our further and higher education system plays a central role in ensuring that graduates are equipped with the essential skills that will enhance their employability. It allows graduates to adapt to diverse tasks and contribute meaningfully to the workforce and society. There are approximately 400,000 people enrolled in further and higher education in Ireland, and this is projected to grow further in the coming years. Our Department has prioritised enhancing the responsiveness of the sector to acute skills needs and this work is ongoing. There has been significant investment in additional provision across multiple programmes and disciplines, including landmark agreements for additionality in medicine and other healthcare disciplines both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. There are many subsidised programmes offered through higher education that allow for upskilling, reskilling and lifelong learning. These include Springboard+, the human capital initiative and micro-credential courses. Many of the courses offered through these programmes focus on areas of skills need such as ICT, construction, and green skills.

Budget 2025 includes an allocation of over €4.5 billion for our Department. This will allow for a significant increase in funding for higher education, including an additional €50 million in core higher education funding from the national training fund, with annual increases in core funding from the national training fund up to a level of €150 million per year by 2030.

I thank the Minister of State. May I ask the extent to which the respective students in the academic and technical areas can see the improvement manifest itself for them in the course of the coming year and how this is likely to reflect on the market requirements in that area, given that the requirements are increasing all the time?

I wish to point out to the Deputy that our National Skills Council and the nine regional skills fora created under our national skills strategy foster engagement and collaboration between relevant Departments and agencies, the education and training system and enterprise. To secure more effective governance of Ireland's skills ecosystem, the National Skills Council has been reformed in line with the recommendations of the 2023 OECD review of Ireland's national skills strategy. The Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, brought a memo to Government on 9 July advising of the reconstituted membership of that body. It has an independent chair from industry and enterprise, which was identified through an expression of interest process; eight enterprise and industry representatives, also all selected through an expression of interest process; representatives of the social partners nominated by ICTU, Ibec, ISME, and the community and voluntary social partnership pillar; and two skills experts. The newly constituted skills council met for the first time recently on 19 September. Their focus is to continually review our skills needs and to address the requirements or deficits that we have in our system.

My own is the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board. The regional skills fora are excellent. The regional skills managers do excellent work in that they collaborate on a daily basis on the ground with industry and employers. They are in constant rolling conversation and collaboration, assessing where the gaps are in the pipeline of skills coming out of our colleges and training institutions to meet the gaps in the labour force and the marketplace. There is great credit due, for example to Joe Leddin in my own area, our regional skills manager, and all of the regional skills managers around the country who keep that under constant review.

The Minister of State may be aware that in Cavan and Monaghan ETB and in the other ETB areas, virtually at the last moment, a number of tutors of adult education courses were told those courses had been suspended. Students of some of those courses attended only to find out they had been cancelled. What are the Minister of State and the Government doing to resolve this situation?

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 12 together. I share the Deputy's concern to ensure that adult learners are supported in their learning journey in our further and education and training system. On the issues raised in the Deputy's question, the Minister has no function in respect of the operational management of our education and training boards, ETBs.

As independent statutory bodies, the allocation and management of funding to different FET programmes within each education and training board, the scheduling of courses and the conversion process for adult educators are matters for the relevant ETB.

The Department understands that Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board has postponed some planned provision to remain within its overall budgetary allocation. All ETBs have been responding to funding pressures in 2024, largely arising from the need to prioritise capacity in craft apprenticeship as well as reflecting the demand-led nature of FET provision. In doing so, the objective has been to minimise disruption to learners as much as possible.

The details of the conversion process for adult tutors to the new public service grade of adult educators were advised by the Department to the ETBs in April. The Department has been informed by Education and Training Boards Ireland that this work is near completion and the conversion process should take place by January 2025 at the latest. This process, in itself, does not provide any reason for classes not to commence or for contracts to be suspended.

The Cavan and Monaghan ETB has advised the Department that it informed all its tutors of the timeframe for conversion and that their existing terms and conditions will continue to apply until the conversion process is complete.

I have to say, that was the most non-answer answer I have ever heard in this Chamber. It is not good enough. To suggest the ETBs are fiefdoms making decisions independent of the Government is simply ludicrous. It is the Government that sets policy and allocates budgets, so for the Minister of State to say he is aware of funding constraints within the ETB and further education sector, without acknowledging that the Government has a hand in that, is disingenuous in the extreme.

The problem is that there is a human cost to all this. I have received several emails I could read out to the Minister of State, but I will read an excerpt from one I received recently. A tutor informed me that this had gone on for almost five weeks and that, instead of working, she was facing a difficult job search. She said that at times, this undermined her self-confidence and integrity. She asked us to please make a change for her because, she wrote, it seems the Government does not care. She said I have a direct connection to the Government that may influence its actions.

I again ask the Minister of State whether the Government will intervene in this situation. If it does not, the entire further education sector is going to be undermined.

I have been contacted by tutors and by students who want to undertake these courses, and the tutors were given very little notice. They were contacted within days of when they assumed they were going to start delivering their classes. One tutor who delivers up to six art classes a week suddenly has no classes. She depends on that funding; it is her job. Students who have been in contact have said they may take on classes as a pastime but for many, it is progression to a different trade or job. Many others are learning English in order that they can work in this country.

I spoke to the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, about this a few weeks ago. He said he was aware of it and was making efforts to resolve the issue, which affects a number of ETBs including that for Cavan and Monaghan, but the Minister of State is now saying the Government has no responsibility. We are hearing different things. The Minister was supposed to give me a progress report but, of course, I have not heard anything from him since then. I would like an update on this. It has to be dealt with. We cannot leave people, both tutors and students, without classes indefinitely.

I think both Deputies will understand the structure of ETBs and their governance, and to say otherwise would be to misrepresent their structure. To address the funding of further education, our Department has significantly increased its investment in further education and training in recent years, from about €909 million in 2020 to more than €1.055 billion in 2024, excluding capital expenditure.

As a State agency responsible for further education and training, SOLAS allocates this funding to the 16 education and training boards and other agencies to deliver FET based on agreed learner numbers and programmes. SOLAS has confirmed that the 2024 allocation to the Cavan and Monaghan ETB is of the order of €35.03 million, an increase from €34.15 million in 2023, again excluding capital expenditure. The allocation of this funding among the different FET programmes is a matter entirely for the individual ETB.

As both Deputies will be aware, there are representatives of the public, the community, employers and staff on the boards of ETBs, who act in an oversight and governance capacity.

The Minister of State is now blaming the members of the board of the ETB, who, I can tell him, were not aware of this decision until after it had been made at an executive level. It was made at an executive level because there is clearly a funding gap, and we know about the funding gap because tutors and students were initially told their courses would be delayed. They were later told they had been indefinitely postponed. That sounds very much like an ETB scrambling to secure funding. The Minister of State should confirm whether the Cavan and Monaghan ETB has made an application to the Department seeking additional funding to resolve this situation.

I again ask him what we are supposed to say to these tutors who, if they secure alternative employment, will be lost to this sector. What do we say to those students who are midway through completing courses? I am dealing with one student who has completed their level 5 special needs assistant, SNA, course and had intended to begin level 6 this year. Again, if they cannot do that, they will seek alternative employment, and the Minister of State and his colleagues will stand up in the Dáil and decry the shortage of special needs assistants in our schools.

Has an application for funding been made and is it being considered? If that is the case, why is the Minister of State shrugging his shoulders as though this has nothing to do with him?

The members of the board were not aware this was happening. I know there was a changeover of membership because of the local elections, but the members both before and after the elections were not aware. They had put forward proposals to get an overdraft and so on but were just shot down. The Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, intimated to me that some of the funding related to the large number of people who have come here from other countries and are receiving English classes, so there will be an additional cost for people coming in to live in the area and that should be taken into account. There are more people from other countries in Monaghan than there are in most other counties.

We need to help these people, and if that requires additional funding, the Government should step up and provide it. I have had contact from people who are involved in men's sheds, and we know about the important work that men's sheds do for men's mental health by bringing them together. They provide classes such as computer classes, cooking classes and so on, but they cannot provide any of them now without adult tutors being available through the ETB. This needs to be addressed immediately and the Government needs to stop washing its hands of it.

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

In respect of Deputy Carthy's question, I do not know in the here and now but we will find out whether Cavan and Monaghan ETB made an application. I just do not have that information to hand.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs, including the management of academic affairs and how they utilise core funding allocations. As part of budget 2025, the Government agreed a total National Training Fund funding package of €1.485 billion over a six-year period, from 2025 to 2030, for the tertiary sector.

Some €150 million of this has been earmarked to support PhD students and bolster our research infrastructure.

Our support for research infrastructure must enable us to attract and retain researchers of the highest calibre and ensure they have the tools required for their research, with access to modern infrastructure and equipment. There are a number of funding programmes operating in support of this work. The Research Ireland frontiers for the future programme runs in collaboration with Geological Survey Ireland and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. It has seen €16.2 million of funding announced to increase research capacity in 15 projects led by technological universities and institutes of technology. The Research Ireland infrastructure programme supports the research community in building and sustaining the infrastructure to accomplish high-quality, high-impact and innovative research. A total of €21 million has been invested in eight research infrastructure projects through this programme in 2024. The higher education research equipment grant, worth €15 million, has been provided to higher education institutions by the Higher Education Authority, HEA. This grant is helping higher education institutions to purchase world-leading new or additional research equipment that will serve the needs of Irish researchers and their enterprise collaborators. The expenditure period for this grant is January 2023 to the end of 2025. Following the allocation of additional capital funding in budget 2025, my Department will examine how best to support the renewal and improvement of research equipment through a programmatic approach.

I thank the Minister of State for telling us about the good work that is going on and the money being made available. Does he accept the finding by the Irish Universities Association in an investigation it launched recently that one third of the equipment in Irish universities is older than the original iPhone, that is, more than 16 years old, and more than half of it is over a decade old? Does he agree that this limits universities' ability to compete at the leading edge in domains of research that rely on such equipment to build in the areas of most current relevance to industry and to attract the best researchers and support them to succeed? How much would be required to bring all our third level institutions up the required modern standard? Does the Minister of State agree that having equipment that is more than 16 years old, making it out of date, is not good enough and is putting us at a really poor competitive advantage relative to our competitors?

I agree that research equipment should be as new and as up to date as possible. We need to avoid older equipment and equipment that is reaching its end of use. In December 2023, €15 million in capital funding for research equipment across the higher education sector was announced by my Department under the higher education research equipment grant. This funding was disbursed via the HEA to 17 higher education institutions. Devolved research equipment grant funding is supporting higher education institutions to purchase world-leading research equipment that will serve our research and development needs within the industry.

Grants given in the 2023-24 year included the following: €491,000 to the Technological University of the Shannon; €768,000 to Atlantic Technological University, ATU; €470,000 to Munster Technological University; €950,000 to Technological University Dublin; €783,000 to the South East Technological University; and €211,000 to Dundalk Institute of Technology. I will furnish the longer list, showing the allocations to all the higher education institutions, to the Deputy.

I thank the Minister of State for that interesting and useful information. Does he have an overall figure for the amount required to bring all our universities up to the modern, cutting-edge standard that will allow them to compete internationally? If he does not have that figure to hand, will he send it to me later? Is he aware that Mario Draghi's recent report on European competitiveness described the central role of universities in early-stage innovation, generating breakthrough research and producing new skills profiles for the workforce? The amazing work going on in areas such as artificial intelligence, AI, with all its advantages and challenges, medical technology, ICT, agrifood, biopharmaceuticals and renewable energy is underpinned by a strong supply of high-skills talent, cutting-edge innovation and the best technology possible. Will the Minister of State give an assurance that every effort will be made to ensure our universities are operating at that level?

I will ask the Department to let the Deputy know whether we are in possession of the figure he is seeking regarding equipment that needs replacing. I will revert to him on that for sure.

High-performance computing, HPC, is linked to the points Mario Draghi made, as referenced by the Deputy. In August this year, the Minister confirmed the appointment of an expert panel to review the high-performance computing service requirements for the research and innovation community in Ireland. Internationally, high-performance computing has reached an inflection point and some investment options are now of a magnitude not foreseen at the outset of the provision of existing services to the research and innovation community in Ireland. This has triggered the need for an independent strategic review to determine the most appropriate path forward. This strategic review process will assess demand for the national high-performance computing service from researchers in the higher education and enterprise sectors. The expert panel will make recommendations on the optimum service model to meet this demand and will also address the associated governance and funding models. Irish researchers are currently using an interim HPC service based on an EU computer that is part of the EU's network of supercomputers until a long-term sustainable model of HPC provision can be determined. The report of the expert panel is expected by the end of this year.

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

In budget 2025, we secured €6 million in annual funding to support the activation of more than 1,200 new student accommodation beds through leasing. This measure will support target group students in availing of new accommodation supply, with at least 30% of all developments being available at below market rates. A sum of €1 million has been secured to provide student accommodation officers for the sector to build resourcing and capabilities. In addition, An Taoiseach and the Minister announced an investment of €100 million from the national development plan to be allocated to the short-term activation programme. This enabled the projects at UCD, DCU and Maynooth University to progress following completion of the due diligence process.

In the longer term, schemes allowing third level institutions to access funding as part of a new student accommodation strategy are being developed and are due for completion in early 2025. The technological university study is progressing in tandem with the standardised design study to enable viable designs for State-supported student accommodation based on regional needs and feasibility assessments. The outcomes of these studies will provide a framework of delivery models and funding options that will require approval by the Government.

The HEA and the Department are actively working on the progression of pipeline proposals and programmes for student accommodation, which will include assessment and identification of State funding support requirements to activate supply for target groups.

The European Investment Bank and the Housing Finance Agency have agreed a €434 million student accommodation financing initiative to support higher education institutions in the development of affordable student housing. That is subject to the university borrowing capacity.

The struggle even just to find accommodation, let alone to get accommodation that is reasonably priced, is a huge issue for students. Being close to the college is an important requirement to so many as well. A recent USI survey in Cork indicated that 27% of students were in purpose-built accommodation, much of which was privately operated, with very little from the colleges. Clearly, the colleges need to increase the availability of accommodation.

When I raised a very similar question this time last year, the then higher education Minister, Deputy Harris, indicated that he had been working on this technological university borrowing framework and that it would be available over the next year, that is, 2023-24, to release funding. Will the Minister of State outline the progress on that? It sounds like he is talking about next year for that. Again, will he outline the progress the Minister has made over the past year?

There is no decision from the Government, or any recommendation from the Department of public expenditure and reform to the Government to make a decision, on the TU borrowing facility. That is something that is raised with me quite regularly, so that is to answer it straight up for the Deputy. However, it is our intention to increase supply as much as we can. That is why the intention of the technological university feasibility study is to develop a programmatic approach to facilitate future TU student accommodation proposals. There was a demand analysis, which was an output of phase 1 of the study and that will inform a framework of delivery models and funding options as part of the second phase of the study. Phase 2 of the study is to identify potential proposals for the technological university sector for the delivery of student accommodation. That is under way. Options include purpose-built student accommodation, both on- and off-campus, leasing, joint ventures and repurposing of vacant and derelict properties. The HEA will assess and appraise these options, with the final business cases due by the end of November 2024.

Often when we think of student accommodation, the purpose-built units or the apartments might be the first in mind, but there are also houses. While we see the challenge there for the technological universities, other colleges seem to be able to move in more flexible or different abilities, such as in Limerick, where they were able to buy houses.

As the Chair stated, the Deputy has picked a fine example. That is exactly what is being inquired into by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Higher Education Authority through their statutory process and, I understand from media reports, An Garda Síochána, so there are lots of moving parts in that regard. It is incumbent on any higher education institution to ensure value for money. Therein is the other point that we have to reiterate in this House on many occasions, that is, that our higher education institutions guard their autonomy and governance and hold it very precious. It is sacred to them. The Deputy will recall that when we updated or modernised our legislation on the functioning of the HEA, there was a lot of friction with the higher education institutions, which did not like the State looking at them in a Big Brother role. That is, however, part of our job. If the State provides the money, the State is entitled to have a degree of oversight, and rightly so.

I am returning to this question again. A number of previous speakers have raised it. I am asking for an update on plans to provide additional student accommodation units for students in Galway; the status and location of the additional 403 and 1,669 planned purpose-built student accommodation spaces. I have read the answers and listened to the responses. I would love to tease this out. What progress is being made on the provision of State-owned, university-owned accommodation for students?

We are developing a new student accommodation strategy to identify accommodation needs and responses in campus locations, in line with the long-term student accommodation policy adopted earlier this year. The strategy will encompass all demand. However, there is a key emphasis on providing State support for the most disadvantaged students who cannot participate in the market and who require and receive assistance to attend higher education. The strategy will include measures to increase the supply of State-supported student accommodation, reduce the cost of delivery through standardised design guidance and promote efficient use of existing building stock through refurbishment and examination of vacancy. These measures will support balanced regional development through the technological university feasibility study, and the promotion of sustainable transport links and digs accommodation.

The allocation of €6 million in annual funding in budget 2025 will support the activation of up to 1,200 student accommodation beds in regional locations. This leasing programme is being developed as a key deliverable from the TU feasibility study informed by the existing planning pipeline. The long-term student accommodation policy has also identified digs accommodation as an additional source of student accommodation. As of 30 September, there are 462 beds available through digs accommodation in Galway.

The initial accommodation proposal received from the University of Galway under the short-term activation initiative was withdrawn by the vendor, and this was notified to the HEA by the university.

My Department does not hold details on proposed or ongoing private purpose-built student accommodation developments other than what is available to the public via the planning system. The most recent building information data supplied, which is from August 2024, indicates that work is under way on site on an additional 403 bed spaces and that planning permission has been obtained for a further 1,669 beds in the Galway city area.

Now that we have dispensed with that response, could we just tease out really where we are going in terms of student accommodation in this country? Are we going to learn from what we did with housing and HAP, which was an absolute disaster, and where we have put in literally millions and billions of euro to keep the market price of homes very high? We have done the same as regards students. I am sure Deputy Collins has an opinion as a Minister of State. I come from a city with two universities and four hospitals. I am proud to be a Galwegian and I am proud of what we have there, but we have a major housing crisis, partly contributed to by the failure of the two universities to provide campus accommodation. Can we learn at this point where we are? When will the strategy be published? It was due last July. Is there a change?

The other thing from ATU in Galway, which the Minister of State mentioned earlier, is that it wants the ability to borrow. It has been deprived of that. It has been discriminated against compared with the more established universities. He said a decision has not been made. When will it be made? Most importantly, to tease this out, the obvious answer is to provide accommodation that is State-owned so we can give it out at affordable rents to students.

From 2017 to the end of August 2024, 15,222 purpose-built student beds were built, bringing the total stock of student beds to in excess of 48,000. Since 2020, 9,241 student beds have been completed, with 7,046 of those beds in the private market and 2,195 beds provided by the higher education institutions.

Of the 2,195 public beds provided by the higher education institutions, 1,021 publicly funded beds became available in 2023, 674 of which were in the University of Galway, 255 in UCC, nine in Trinity College Dublin, 80 in the University of Limerick and three in Mary Immaculate College.

I welcome the fact there were 2,195 public beds. Where, however, is the vision for this area in terms of State-owned student accommodation in order that we can bring the prices down? A market is once again being created for the vulture funds and anyone with money who can then do what they want during the summer, although we have tried to curtail that lately with limits on time. I come from a city where the HAP scheme and all the private schemes have led to a disaster. The housing crisis in Galway is worse than Dublin. There is absolutely no hope. At one time, we could go up with someone every six months and tell him or her that eventually he or she would get a local authority or public house. That is gone. We have emails and what seems like choice-based letting whereby everyone gets a computer and looks for a house knowing that only one person can get it out of thousands of people. We are doing the exact same thing all over again with student accommodation.

That policy will inform student accommodation strategies and schemes which are being developed throughout 2024. We also have conducted a feasibility study across the technological university sector, as the Deputy will know. That was basically an exercise in which we collaborated through the umbrella group for the technological universities. We asked them to identify their requirements and demands in their locations based on the future strategies of each technological university, based on the demographics and on the forecasting of students in each area. We are also, as I have outlined to the Deputy and previous speakers, conducting an exercise to make a standardised design to achieve value for money. There is a lot going on with that. Suffice it to say that we have a dedicated unit within the Department of further and higher education that is working in the whole space of student accommodation in conjunction with the technological universities and higher education institutions.

I wish to zoom in on the degree to which the relevant vacancies have been identified throughout industry, both in the public and private sector, with the view to matching up the qualifications and identifying the precise areas in which weaknesses have appeared and the degree to which it is anticipated to be able to address them.

In budget 2025, we made a significant investment of €77.4 million to grow apprenticeship, a valued option for those who wish to gain a skill or improve their skills across many sectors of the economy. There are currently 77 national apprenticeship programmes available from levels 5 to 10 of the national framework of qualifications, NFQ, across a diverse range of skills from plumbing to sales to cybersecurity. Opportunities exist to advance to further levels in the NFQ. For example, in apprenticeship, there is the opportunity to progress from a civil engineering technician level 6 apprenticeship to a civil engineering level 7 apprenticeship.

We know from the OECD skills strategy for Ireland that the onset of digitisation, climate change and demographic change means the Irish workforce must upskill and reskill throughout their careers. My priority is to ensure the education system can adapt and support the skills needs of the economy into the future. In budget 2025, we announced a €20 million skills package responding to the requirement highlighted in the OECD review of Ireland's skills strategy for investment in workforce development with a particular focus on skills priorities such as digitisation, artificial intelligence, modern methods of construction and offshore wind energy. Micro-qualifications at NFQ levels 4, 5 and 6 are being made available through the SOLAS Skills to Advance initiative, which assists small-and-medium-sized enterprises in developing workforce skills.

The tertiary education system plays a central role in ensuring our graduates from higher education, further education and training and from apprenticeship are equipped with the essential vocational, professional and transversal skills and competencies that will equip them for success in work.

I thank the Minister of State for that reply. To what degree have the individual shortages of skilled operatives been identified precisely? In order to meet that market requirement, it is absolutely essential we can identify the precise number of, for example, crane operators and to what degree they are required at the present time. Have we enough or nearly enough crane operators, or are we far short of the target? The same applies to a whole series of other areas. The Minister of State has listed a number of them. For example, how available are electricians now? Are they readily available to industry? Do we have major shortfalls that are identifiable and can be remedied?

To follow on from Deputy Durkan, I recently visited the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence, Dundalk. We have the robotics and automation apprenticeship which, obviously, is an absolute necessity. We know the idea behind cybersecurity. We have 3D concrete printing. There is also huge interaction between industry and the advanced manufacturing centre, which is followed up by the work that is done in the likes of the Ó Fiaich institute and the Drogheda Institute of Further Education, DIFE. We need to have an overall solution and a fit-for-purpose regional skills and training centre. There is a need to rectify cross-Border issues around certification. The Minister of State has the means to do that.

As I am dealing with Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, one of its employees, namely, a young female teacher who lives fairly close to me just across the Border in the North, received bad news today. Maybe the Minister of State will be able to use his good offices in this regard. She is an Irish-language teacher, who studied Irish along with politics and society and civil, social and political education. When she went for registration with the Teaching Council, it came back without Irish certification. Unfortunately, the LMETB has contacted her to tell her that if this is not rectified by Friday, 11 October, the fixed-term contract will be terminated and she will lose her job. While my office has already made contact, if the Minister of State can follow up on this, I can provide him with that information. It would be absolutely vital. I will also follow up with the Minister, Deputy O’Donovan, in respect of his meeting with the personal assistants who work in Dunboyne College of Further Education, the Ó Fiaich institute and Cavan Institute because that is absolutely necessary.

I wish to flag an issue with the Minister of State, which I have raised previously with his colleague, the then-Minister of the Department and now Taoiseach, Deputy Harris, in relation to the craft certificate. Since the craft certificates have come on stream, I have been dealing for almost one year with an issue a constituent of mine, Paschal Ryan, has in this regard. When he applied for his craft certificate, it was brought to his attention, or at least it was put on the record, that he had not passed an exam 38 years ago. This is a man who is a qualified electrician and was practising as an electrician for 38 years. He was done out of a job with the stoke of a pen or with this piece of information, if it is accurate. He has not worked as an electrician in the past year. While he is trying to resolve this issue himself by way of exams and so on, it has come to his attention there are other people in this situation. This goes back to when the exams were under An Chomhairle Oiliúna, which is a good long time ago. It seems to be difficult to access the records.

The man in question makes the point that he finished his senior year in training. How could he have done that if he had not succeeded in his junior year? There is an issue here. I will send the Minister of State correspondence on this matter. The man was working as an electrician but was done out of a job. The issue concerning the craft card seems to have arisen in several cases.

The clinic is open, and the Deputy can send on all his details. We will endeavour to assist all the aforementioned people.

Deputy Durkan asked about a skills gaps. I referred previously to our regional skills forums and regional skills managers. The regional skills forums are stakeholder groups that our regional skills managers meet in their respective areas regularly. They are representative of the employers and various sectors in which they operate. They identify skills needs and deficits. It is a bottom-up exercise. Deputy Durkan should note that an OECD review of Ireland’s skills system was carried out in 2023. There were several key findings, and I will undertake to have the Department furnish them to him.

I thank the Minister of State. House-building technology has changed in recent years. The building of structures in factories now takes place to a great extent. Can the Minister of State be sure that we have sufficient numbers available to use their skills to good advantage to support this part of the industry and maximise output in the area, which is obviously one we all have concerns about?

It is a job of work for our various ETBs, SOLAS, technological universities and colleges of further education and training to constantly identify skills deficits and gaps in the labour market. The Deputy referred to the construction sector. Right across the country, we have our education and training service providers. Training covers modern methods of construction and green skills initiatives related to the sector’s requirements and obligations to address climate change. All of this is under continual review. There are gaps and deficits, but we are turning out graduates and upskilling and reskilling people every day of the week through all our training and service providers. It is the job of the Government and the Department to ensure this happens continually.

Next month marks two years since the wonderful announcement of the go-ahead for a proposed new further education college in Galway city. After the announcement, we moved on to the preliminary business case. We all welcomed the announcement. It related to a college for the future, a campus and lifelong learning. My specific question is on the status of the proposed new further education college in Galway city. Has the preliminary business case been completed? Has the evaluation by SOLAS and the Department been completed? Will the project now move on to the pre-tender stage?

The Deputy will be aware that Galway and Roscommon ETB is being supported by SOLAS in developing its preliminary business case proposal under the FET college of the future major projects fund. The development of a robust preliminary business case is fundamental to the requirements of the infrastructure guidelines. The proposal put forward by Galway and Roscommon ETB is one of 12 projects that are currently being progressed under the fund.

As the Deputy is aware, the Galway and Roscommon ETB proposal relates to the development of a new state-of-the-art FET campus on a site adjacent to its Mervue training facility. This proposed new development would facilitate the strengthening of FET provision in Galway city and the wider region due to its close proximity to the training centre in Mervue, the Atlantic Technological University and the University of Galway.

SOLAS and officials from my Department met representatives of all 12 ETBs, including Galway and Roscommon ETB, in April and May of this year to discuss their proposals in the context of affordability, value for money and relevant regional and national FET policy objectives. ETBs were asked to refine their business case proposals to ensure they will deliver on priority infrastructure requirements that will meet the needs of their current and future learners and staff.

Galway and Roscommon ETB is currently working on its business case proposal and will have the opportunity to submit it at the next evaluation meeting, which is targeted for January 2025. Following evaluation, business cases that meet the evaluation criteria will advance to the next stage of development: pre-tender – project design, planning, and procurement strategy.

I thank the Minister of State for the update. The news was great, but it was announced almost two years ago. Progress has slowed down a little, which is a concern. The project of Galway and Roscommon ETB, which used to be the vocational education committee, on which I sat, has been in planning for a very long time. Although we welcomed the announcement almost two years ago, it was after 20 years of frustration.

With regard to the announcement of €430 million for four different sectors, one allocation was for ongoing adult learning or further education and training for adults. Is there a breakdown for the fund somewhere? After the meeting next January, will we go straight to the pre-tender stage? Could the Minister of State give me a little more information on that, please?

I will ask the Department to revert to the Deputy with the breakdown she has asked for.

On the engagement that has taken place with ETBs to support them in developing their preliminary business cases, SOLAS and the Department met representatives of all 12 ETBs over a two-week period in April and May of this year to further discuss their proposals in the context of affordability, value for money and the relevant regional and national FET policy objectives. As part of this engagement, they were asked to refine their business cases to ensure they would deliver on priority infrastructure. SOLAS also issued specific feedback to each ETB to assist them in completing this work. ETBs were given until 2 September 2024 to submit their refined business cases, and ETBs were also told that if they required additional time to submit their proposals, they would have the opportunity to submit them at the next full evaluation meeting, which is targeted for 2025.

And the robustness of all the business cases will be considered afresh. Will the Minister of State indicate the timeline? What will happen at the pre-tender and design stage?

What time is envisaged for that?

Deputy Connolly asked what the next steps are when the business case is submitted. Following the evaluation process, the ETBs which have met the required standard will move to the next stage of development and progress to the pre-tender, project design, planning and procurement strategy phase. For projects that do not meet the required standard, our Department will write to SOLAS to confirm the recommendation that the business cases require refinement or further development before they can move to be approved to move to the next stage of development. These projects will be re-evaluated by the evaluation panel as soon as possible. I am not able to give the Deputy an exact timeline, to be honest. If they do not make it on the first pull, they will have an opportunity to make it on the second.

Our Department continues to oversee the implementation of the plan put in place by the National Apprenticeship Office in November 2023 to significantly increase apprenticeship capacity, responding to rising craft apprenticeship demand as a result of our buoyant economy. In budget 2024, €67 million was allocated to apprenticeship, on top of which our Department reprioritised a further €30 million on a temporary basis in order to address the apprenticeship backlog. This investment enabled the recruitment of 87 apprentice instructor staff, with three more offers in progress, and supported the significant expansion of apprenticeship provision in training facilities.

In 2024, SOLAS also mandated the ETBs to deliver three intakes of apprenticeship delivery per workshop. As a direct result of these actions, there has been a 34% increase in craft training capacity in ETBs so far in 2024, increasing from 5,600 places in December 2023 to more than 7,500 currently. I am pleased to say that the number of craft apprentices waiting six months or longer for phase 2 off-the-job training has more than halved since the implementation of the National Apprenticeship Office plan, falling from 5,319 in October 2023 to 2,484 in August 2024. Craft apprenticeship takes four years to complete. The Department is initiating a review of the optimum craft apprenticeship training timelines within those four years. In budget 2025 we have just announced €77.4 million funding for apprenticeship, the single largest core investment into the apprenticeship system since the formation of the Department, demonstrating our priority to deliver enough training places for industry skills needs today and tomorrow and support this Government's targets in housing and retrofitting.

The 34% increase in craft training capacity is welcome. The Minister of State said the number of people waiting six months or longer for craft apprenticeships has now halved. SOLAS appeared before the education committee on a number of occasions. At the most recent meeting, SOLAS stated it hoped the backlogs would be caught up with by 2025. Will the Minister of State clarify if that is still the case? How are we trending going into 2025 in terms of dealing with the backlog specifically?

The normal waiting times for off-the-job training in the education and training boards range from three to six months. Any apprentices waiting longer than six months for phase 2 training are part of the phase 2 backlog and considered to be waiting overlong for training. In July 2023, 6,166 apprentices were waiting six months or longer. In August 2024, that figure had dropped to 2,484. We are doing everything we can to try to address the backlog. We launched a recruitment campaign across several media channels in November 2023. The campaign used a centralised National Apprenticeship Office platform for applications and added to that a new advanced block approval process for the posters put in place. The approval process was delivered through our Department and the Department of Education. The National Apprenticeship Office allocated €149,000 for a recruitment advertising campaign. To date, more than 166 instructor posts have been sanctioned and more than 76 have been filled.

Does the Minister of State have any information on the average completion time for craft traineeships? If not, perhaps he could follow up with a written answer. As he said, there are delays from time to time for people who are waiting for their placement or block release. Typically, a course or traineeship may take four years, as the Minister of State stated. Is there any analysis of how long it is taking to train a carpenter, an electrician or whatever craft it may be? Averaged out, do the delays in block release mean that, rather than four years, it is taking five years, six years or whatever the case may be to train an electrician? Does the Minister of State have specific details on the number of people on waiting lists in Cork and the number waiting six months or more?

This question is about the disability access route to education, DARE. What supports and engagements has the Department had with this scheme? How much funding is being made available to the scheme, either directly or indirectly, by the State, made possible through the fund for students with disability? Will the Minister of State tell us a bit more about the scheme?

The DARE scheme is operated by the Irish Universities Association, IUA, on behalf of the higher education institutions which set the policy criteria for the scheme. Applications to the scheme are submitted to the Central Applications Office which co-ordinates the scheme for participating institutions. All matters pertaining to admissions to higher education are a function of the higher education institutions themselves, which, as the Deputy knows, are autonomous academic bodies. Therefore, the operation, funding and management of the scheme does not fall under the remit of our Department.

I acknowledge the valuable role the DARE scheme plays in enabling access to higher education for those with a disability. It is complementary to the goals of my Department's national access plan, which aims to increase the proportion of new entrants to higher education with a disability to 16% by 2028. The latest available figures, which cover the 2022 to 2023 academic year, indicate that 13.8% of new entrants to higher education have a disability, compared with the baseline figure of 12.4% contained in the plan, which was launched in 2022. The IUA and the access officers of each higher education institution are members of the steering group established under the national access plan. This group provides an opportunity for valuable discussion on the priorities within the national action plan, including disability matters.