Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Jun 2024

This question was sparked by the real-life experience of a former constituent who is now living outside the European Union. He contacted me to say that his son, who was born in 2004, would like to come back to Ireland to go to college. His son has an Irish PPS number, an Irish bank account, and an Irish passport, but because he is living abroad he will have to pay non-EU fees, which are very expensive. He told me other countries in the European Union make an exception for their citizens who are living abroad to come back and not have to pay these very high fees. Has the Minister given any consideration to making changes in this regard?

I thank the Deputy. The higher education tuition fee payable by a student can vary depending on a variety of factors, including the type of course and the student's access route. The assessment of a student’s application and the determination of the appropriate fee rate is a function of the institution attended.

Typically there are two rates of fee, an EU rate of fee or a non-EU rate of tuition fee. Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs. This includes setting the criteria a person must meet to be regarded as an EU or a non-EU tuition fee student. The criteria may vary by institution. I understand that an institution’s criteria will generally include specified nationality and-or residency requirements that students would be expected to meet to qualify for the EU rate of fee.

As the Deputy will appreciate, it is not possible for the Department to intervene in the fee policy of the institutions or to advise on the specific criteria of individual institutions. Where a student has a query about an institution's EU or non-EU fee policy, they can of course engage directly with the institution involved. If the Deputy so wishes, he can give me the details.

I thank the Minister for his response and interest in this matter. He will appreciate that Irish citizens living abroad would like their children to come back here to go to university, but the fees are exorbitant. The Minister said he cannot intervene in this way, but is there any way he can make it easier? Will he consider examining the possibility of making it easier for Irish citizens living abroad to come back here - these are young people we need and want here - to go to university, who might stay here afterwards and contribute to our economy?

I understand what the Deputy raised but the crux of the matter is the residency issue for three out of the previous five years. That is a long-standing policy within the Department and the Government, as he will appreciate. It comes on the basis of proving that the person has a direct connection to the State and is ordinarily resident here. We appreciate that it obviously costs an awful lot of money to educate people. We appreciate that fees are much more expensive when a person is non-resident or is from outside the European Union but, by the same token, it also costs the Exchequer a lot of money to educate people. That is why the basic parameter of three out of the previous five years was introduced. It is a long-standing policy. It is similar to other EU jurisdictions with regard to how they deal with their citizens living outside the jurisdiction.

On that last point, I understand that some other EU countries have changed that rule in that they allow people to go to university there and accept them as European citizens paying only European fees. Even Irish citizens in some countries can have that benefit. I will ask the Minister some questions. When is this policy being reviewed? Has it been reviewed recently? Will he set a review of this policy in train with respect to the three out of five years issue? Indeed, will he go further, as I suggest, and allow Irish citizens living abroad to attend universities here, in the same way Irish citizens living in this country can attend universities and third level, and not have to pay the exorbitant non-EU fees?

In answering the Deputy's question, we have to be conscious of EU law. We have to make sure that all persons within the European Union are treated equally. The exemption cannot just be available for an Irish citizen within the European Union. Again, I do not know the details of whether the person is within or outside the European Union. It might be better if I get the details and am able to explore it with officials in the Department. I do not propose to have any deviation from the three out of five years. Deputy Stanton will appreciate that. I appreciate that education at third level is expensive on parents and students. It is also very expensive for the Exchequer. There are many people outside and within the European Union who are Irish citizens and have not been domiciled here for three out of the past five years. There would be an obvious impact on the Exchequer. We have to be conscious of that.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 56, 65 and 72 together.

The first national student accommodation strategy was launched in July 2017. It runs until 2024. The officials in the Department and I are developing a new strategy for student accommodation, which will be published this year. The strategy will align with the long-term student accommodation policy and methodology, which were approved by the Government in January.

The aim of the policy is to increase the supply of student accommodation and to examine alternative solutions that will remove accommodation as a barrier to higher education through increasing the supply of student accommodation and relieving pressure on the private rental sector; supporting balanced regional development and the technological university, TU, transformation agenda, and proposals for accommodation projects from the TUs are currently under assessment; enabling supply of new below-market rate accommodation for target cohorts; reducing cost of delivery of new purpose-built student accommodation through development of standardised design options for purpose-built student accommodation; promoting efficient use of existing building stock; examining commuting alternatives to accommodation close to campus; and continued support of the rent-a-room scheme, which Deputies call digs.

Engagement with a range of stakeholders has informed development of the approach and will continue as plans progress. The short-term activation programme has been progressing. It is currently supporting the development of circa 1,000 student beds with €100 million in funding, as I said, approved by the Government in quarter 1 of 2024. This short-term approach has been necessary in the context of the overall challenges faced and the inability of higher education institutions to progress developments with planning permission due to cost viability issues.

I will respond to some of the other issues raised by the Deputy as well.

What the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, wants at this stage is a date. The Minister mentioned it would be at some stage in 2024. I appreciate he is new in the role but this is something that was due to be published this year. When will it be published?

The Minister mentioned the student accommodation policy. I remember when it was launched. There was a massive hullabaloo about it. It was seen as this great thing, but when you actually looked at it, it was simply existing policy rehashed. There was a huge hullabaloo about the refurbishment grant that, on closer inspection and from contacting all the universities, apparently could not be used by anyone. I have not heard much talk about that grant since. We have seen that the technological universities still seem to be in some kind of limbo with regard to whether they can borrow to invest in student accommodation. I appreciate we will discuss that later.

There is clearly a lot of work to be done. I appreciate the Minister is new in the role. I am taking it on face value that he wants to get work done on this, but when will we see this strategy? Can we get a date for when it will be published? As I said, students are asking about this and waiting for this.

Perfect. I also met with representatives from the USI. They have given us a number of briefings over the past two years or so. They pointed to the fact they have waited three years for the publication of the national student accommodation strategy. I also appreciate the Minister is new in the role, but I point to the fact this issue is damaging relationships between students and the Government. The union had to debate whether to attend a cost-of-education event organised by the Department of higher education because, in its representatives' words, they are sick of being invited to meetings and events, saying what students need, and then seeing no real change or action. That is a huge concern to me.

In a parliamentary response in February, I was told the Higher Education Authority, HEA, is to undertake a feasibility study for regional areas, including Clare. Is there any update on where we are with that?

I do not have a date. As soon as I have it, I will bring it to the attention of Deputies. I recognise this is an important issue, as does everybody on all sides of the House. That is why the Government has put the money it has into the sector for the universities I identified. It is the same reason, in last year's budget, we made substantial changes to the tax code in respect of the rent-a-room or digs scheme.

I will come to that later when replying to other questions. That has been very successful across the technological universities sector and the other higher education institutes. It has proven to provide much-needed accommodation. To be quite honest, there is more that can be done in that space. I look forward to discussing that with the new Minister for Finance, Deputy Chambers, when he gets up and running in the context of the summer economic statement and the upcoming budget.

I take it that Deputy Farrell's comment was tongue-in-cheek and I will not take it personally but it is not a hullabaloo; I take this issue very seriously.

On purpose-built accommodation for the technological universities and the older universities, a tender is currently out with regard to standardised design. From my previous role with the Office of Public Works, I know that things are made an awful lot cheaper when we have a set of standardised designs that we can present to the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform before deciding on the funding model, whether public private partnership or direct Exchequer funding.

I am also conscious that some universities have significant own resources. On top of that, I am also conscious that some have private sector involvement and that this private sector involvement has shrunk in many cases. They have planning permission for student accommodation but that student accommodation may not be being realised in the private sector. There is work to do with the local authorities. I am going to engage with them to determine how many beds in the private sector have been granted permission but are not being advanced in the local authority areas. They are outside of the reach of the Department but they may not be outside of the reach of the local authorities. That is something I am anxious to get involved in.

I will come back to some of the other issues. I presume the specific issue Deputy Wynne raised is in the Shannon area. I am familiar with the area. It is very proximate to Limerick. As I pointed out to Deputy Farrell a while ago, changes have been made to the tax people pay, whether pensioners, people with earned income, people living alone or people who would like to have a student living with them as a result of lifestyle changes. The Minister, Deputy McGrath, made substantial changes in the last budget. These have been very successful. Obviously, we are trying to make further improvements.

We are also making sure that this is considered when councillors are adopting city and county development plans. I know that can also be contentious. We all know that accommodation is objected to in many cases. In some cases, it is vehemently objected to not only by locals, but by local authority representatives. I am conscious of that as well. It is adding to the problem. We welcome all suggestions from any side of the House with regard to this issue.

For clarity, I was talking about the Minister's predecessor when I was talking about the hullabaloo. There was a massive hullabaloo regarding something related to student accommodation that came before Cabinet but there was nothing new in it. It sometimes takes a while to see behind the big hullabaloo of an announcement but I recognise that did not happen on the Minister's watch. It was also not on the Minister's watch that not a red cent went into capital for student accommodation in last year's budget. I really hope to see that change this year. Obviously, we would like a date as soon as the Minister can provide it. This is something the USI has been asking about for a long time. When we see this new strategy, I really hope to see affordable student accommodation coming on stream in it because that is the crux of the issue. The reality is that much of the student accommodation out there at the moment is so expensive that people are locked out and unable to access it. That is the reality. We all know it. I am interested to hear more about the Minister's concept of contacting the local authorities to look at the beds for which planning permission has been given. I will be putting in a parliamentary question ASAP.

I also welcome the Minister's earlier announcement in respect of legislation to ensure that students are not locked into 51-week leases. I also commend the USI on its serious campaigning on the matter. I was hoping to get a bit of clarification as to whether that will include digs accommodation. The USI's 2023 student digs survey included stark findings. Only 11% of students reported having access to a bathroom, fridge, iron, living room, oven, stove, television, washing machine and dryer. Some 59% lived in digs only because of the lack of alternatives and 57% of those students said that they would move out of digs if they could. Students availing of digs should not be left vulnerable without legal rights or safeguards and students can see themselves on the streets without notice. It is obviously a very serious concern overall.

To follow on from the previous two speakers, there is a crisis in Cork regarding student accommodation and the affordability of such accommodation. That is why it is so important that the strategy is now delivered. I know the Minister is not long in the job but surely his predecessor had advanced this. It should be at a certain stage now. When will we have sight of it? It is a very important strategy that needs to be delivered on. The Minister made a point about what was done in Spain. Students are now fighting with ordinary non-student people who are trying to rent accommodation. One is pitted against the other. Something needs to be done. It is all about delivery. Parents are now under savage pressure to come up with funds to get student accommodation for their children because prices are so high. I know the Minister is new in the job but he has been in government for more than four and a half years. We should have a strategy by now.

I will deal with the questions in reverse order. I will come back to Deputy Durkan directly once we have had a chance to engage with all of the local authorities with respect to unused planning permissions in the private sector.

On digs accommodation, the census carried out before the end of May showed that, in Cork, there were more than 400 available rooms in digs accommodation out of a total of 2,221.

If the Deputy asks a question, he should at least give me an opportunity to answer it. I did not interrupt him. As somebody who stayed in digs in Cork myself, in Hartlands Avenue, a number of years ago, I know that these are private family homes into which people bring students. We have to be very conscious that they are private homes. The vast majority who have stayed in them would attest to the fact that, in a family environment like that, they are well looked after and get very good accommodation.

To go back to what I said earlier in response to Deputy Farrell, in conjunction with myself, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has brought forward a memorandum on 51-week and 40-week leases. I know some of the Deputies were missing for that. I acknowledge Deputy Wynne's contribution in that regard. That will be very important because it will remove 12 weeks of rent that families have to pay. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is the lead Minister for the legislation and will be bringing it forward as soon as possible. Obviously, there will be short time for engagement if we are to have it passed before the Dáil and the Seanad rise. I hope that Deputies will look at that as an opportunity to address this exact issue and to make sure that there are not situations where students are being asked to pay for months when they are not in the accommodation and to instead only pay for the 40 weeks they are supposed to be there.

I will reply to Deputy Durkan afterwards on the specific issues he has raised.

I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Richard Bruton, who sends his apologies. He wants to ask the Minister if he has assessed the role artificial intelligence should play in shaping the future of further and higher education given that it has been described as the fourth industrial revolution, bringing a tsunami of change. I am interested in hearing the Minister's response.

When the Deputy and I last discussed this topic, in May, we talked about how artificial intelligence holds transformative potential for workplaces in Ireland and what we are doing to ensure that workers of all types have the skills needed to meet challenges around displacement and opportunities to enhance their roles via artificial intelligence.

Al is also promising to transform how education is delivered by our tertiary system. It can help to make learning much more personalised to meet student needs. It can also adjust lessons and materials to individual’s learning styles and speeds, helping to ensure that students who need extra support receive it. AI platforms can analyse large amounts of data, giving insights into how students are performing and how effective institutions are.

This can help improve courses, increase student retention and improve student performance. There are benefits but we also need to think about ethics, data privacy and the risk of bias in AI systems to ensure they are fair for everyone.

Safeguarding academic and research integrity is, of course, also a priority. Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, has recently closed a public consultation on its White Paper on academic integrity assessing both the challenges and opportunities from the use of AI tools by students, learners and researchers. I highlighted the importance of being proactive in shaping Ireland’s response to artificial intelligence in my remarks at an event on skills in the digital age at the Institute of International and European Affairs last week. The refreshing and updating of the 2021 national AI strategy, AI - Here for Good, provides an opportunity to examine how best to enable the transformation of Ireland’s tertiary education system driven by AI adoption.

I thank the Minister for his response. Deputy Bruton has requested that I ask whether the Minister will comment on the potential for individualised learning paths that AI opens up and its impact on teaching and learning and the complications for assessment methods for distinguishing student knowledge from machine-generated content. It is a cause of huge concern in some third-level institutions that AI is generating the response and the work and there are questions about how to distinguish one from the other. Has the Department looked at this in any way with the third-level institutions to see what can be done on this issue?

I thank Deputy Stanton. The answer is "Yes". In my first response, I stated this was one of the greatest risks to the integrity of the third-level sector - and to the second-level sector to a degree - when it comes to ensuring what is submitted by the learner or the student is the work of the learner or the student rather than the work of somebody else. That is going to be very challenging. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is looking after the overall Government approach to artificial intelligence but it has a particular and highly concentrated potential impact, both negative and positive. It could be very positive. We should not be over-cautious about saying there are many positives around it, but there are negatives. The negatives include a potential distortion of the third-level system and its results and qualifications. This is something we are attuned to and is why the Department is investing so much time in this, why we have the officials working on it that we do and why we are working with the Department of the Minister, Deputy Burke, on it as well.

Would the Minister agree this whole area is moving at an incredibly fast pace? Some of the very large companies are investing not millions but billions in the area and it has the potential to change everything as we know it. Will the Minister comment on the need to modernise the curriculum at third level to reflect the different skills people will need? Will he also address the serious ethical questions that arise as machines push beyond what human reasoning can manage and are applied in crucial areas such as genetics, medicine and so on? This is moving extremely fast. Are the State, the Minister's Department and the third-level institutions able to keep up?

I should have said in my earlier response there are a number of courses that are already developed and in train through the higher and further education systems to see AI for a power of really positive good. It is the higher education institutions themselves, together with the Higher Education Authority, that develop the degree, postgraduate and masters courses. Through academic autonomy they have the right and the wherewithal to do that. If the Government was to be enunciating the type and content of courses we could be accused, rightly or wrongly, of interference in academic independence, which is something I would not want to stray into. However, all the academic institutions know the Government's view on this, which is that while AI is a power of absolute, positive good, there are risks and the biggest risk I see as the Minister with responsibility for this area is to the integrity of what a person is going to hang up on the wall after the fact. It is about whether, as Deputy Stanton said, it can be judged whether a machine has in some way interfered with the process and that we have got an unfair result. We have seen that with elections and we do not need to see it with academic output.

We have seen huge solidarity with the people of Gaza across Ireland. We have also seen that solidarity in our universities at the likes of Trinity, UCD and UCC. We also have seen students who have fled Gaza and who are now studying in Irish institutions. That is extremely welcome and I am interested to learn what supports are available for them.

I thank Deputy Farrell for raising such an important issue. To reiterate the Government's position, it is imperative we all see an end to this brutal war. The Government continues to urge Israel and Hamas to accept and fulfil the three-phase proposal outlined by President Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council. It is vital all parties work towards reviving a political process that can provide a lasting and sustainable peace based on a two-state solution.

I am conscious of the damage caused by the bombing to the education infrastructure, including schools and universities. The scale of the damage will undoubtedly interrupt a generation's education in this manner and risk the capacity of the Palestinian people to recover. When peace returns to this area, I will be encouraging higher education institutions to leverage their existing relationships through the development aid programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs and EU instruments such as Erasmus and Horizon to assist in whatever way they can to re-establish the Palestinian education system.

In common with other regions suffering conflict such as Sudan and Afghanistan, students fleeing Palestine are eligible to participate in the international protection student scheme. This scheme, which has been in place since 2015, has supported about 100 students. I am aware a number of Irish universities are responding to individual requests for support as part of the scholars at risk programme and university sanctuary programmes. A number of universities have reserved places for Palestinian students to enable them to continue their studies, as well as introducing scholarship schemes for those with financial difficulties. I am pleased to note that access to support services, including counselling and wider pastoral care, has been made available to those arriving in universities, as well as Palestinians who were already in place since August 2023 as part of the fellows programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

I am aware, as we all are, of the difficulties for Palestinians seeking to flee the conflict and cross the border into neighbouring countries. For this reason, data on the possible demand is very hard to establish. However, the Department is working with the Higher Education Authority to establish the precise number of Palestinian students who have arrived in Ireland and are seeking to register with our universities. Once this is available, I can determine the best way to support the universities and can share it with the Deputy.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. How many are currently studying and being accommodated within the universities, if the Minister has that information available? I really welcome that these institutions have welcomed people who have been fleeing war with open arms. The concern that has been raised with me relates to what Deputy Stanton outlined about the costs for students who had not been ordinarily resident in the State and how that will impact going forward, especially in September. Obviously if you are fleeing a place like Gaza, your income, savings or anything like that realistically are going to be non-existent. It is about seeing how we can continue to support people.

The figures I have available show that at present, there are 35 Palestinian students registered with Irish universities in the academic year 2022-23. All are undertaking postgraduate studies, with a quarter in UCD. A question has been asked before about the different between the Palestinian students and the Ukrainian students. As the Deputy will be aware, the EU temporary protection directive was activated by the EU Council in 2022 following the invasion by Russia of Ukraine. It was on that basis, to comply with the directive, that the decision was made by the Department at that time, so there is a subtle difference. I am aware of the point the Deputy is making. However, if there are individual circumstances she is aware of with regard to particular students, she can share them with me rather than raising them on the floor of the Dáil.

That is no problem. Obviously, I will bring any particular matters directly to the Minister because the aim here is to ensure people get what they need. I appreciate it is related to the temporary protection directive. It is unfortunate, of course, because we have seen hell unfold in Gaza but I take the Minister's point on board. When he has more information, I will be delighted to hear it.

Will the Minister update us on the plans for putting in place a new borrowing framework for the technological universities?

It has been a topic of conversation for some time - realistically since the TUs have come on stream. What is the update on this issue?

As the Deputy will be aware, there is currently no borrowing framework in place for the technological university sector. Housing for All contains a number of key actions relating to student accommodation, one of which involves the examination of a borrowing framework and financing options for the technological universities.

The TU study is progressing in tandem with the standardised design study I referenced a while ago for student accommodation to enable a viable design model for State-supported student accommodation based on regional needs and feasibility assessments.

My Department is working with the sector to develop proposals for student accommodation. This work is progressing in tandem with an assessment of a range of funding and delivery mechanisms for student accommodation. We are also progressing large teaching and learning capital developments with the sector through Exchequer-funded supports. The impacts, risks and responsibilities arising from such funding and delivery mechanisms are key considerations in this context. Safeguards will be required to ensure that projects would not adversely impact the resources or financial position of technological universities, or the wider public finances. Stated requisite oversight, risk evaluation, project management and attendant governance and regulatory processes are essential. Any framework proposal would require approval by the Government.

The Higher Education Authority's output report and evaluation of the TU proposals is due this month. Work on shortlisted proposals will progress throughout 2024, with final options to be presented to my Department in quarter 1, 2025. Funding options, including but not limited to, a borrowing framework will then be considered.

It is anticipated that any borrowing framework, subject to approvals for the TUs, would in the first instance prioritise the provision of student accommodation in line with the commitments given in the Government's Housing for All plan.

What I understand from what the Minister is saying is that TU proposals are coming in at the moment and there may be potential delivery in quarter 1 2025 or that will be when a decision will be made. I raised this matter earlier this year with the previous Minister, who is now Taoiseach, and he indicated to me there would be a change in the initial approach. Rather than having institutions move off-balance sheet by being deemed autonomous public sector bodies like other universities they would instead be allowed to develop housing through public-private partnerships, PPPs. As the Minister knows, the value of PPPs has been questioned. It seemed that any kind of review to allow TUs to progress to borrow off-balance sheet was not happening. Is the Minister saying that borrowing is still being considered as a viable option for TUs and if so, what stage of the process are we at in getting that permission?

All options, including but not limited to a borrowing framework, will be considered in this regard. I visited the Munster Technological University in Kerry last week to look at the science, technology, engineering and maths building that is in bundle 1 of the PPP. This is not exclusively about borrowing capacity. It is important to point out that direct Exchequer funding is being used by a lot of the TUs at the moment together with the PPP model. We are delivering a substantial capital investment in the TUs at the moment. Now as we are about to have a new Minister for Finance, this is one of the issues I will be anxious to speak to him about. All of the borrowing by TUs, if there were to be borrowing into the future, will go onto the State's balance sheet so I am conscious of that. At the end of the day, it is not about getting sidetracked into a cul-de-sac that it has to be a borrowing framework only. There are other methodologies, including the PPP option, and direct Exchequer funding, which we are using in the TUs at the moment and has been quite successful.

The point I am making is that there would have to be a review by the CSO and approval by Eurostat in order for technological universities to be able to borrow off-balance sheet. The premise of my question is whether that is currently in train rather than it being on-balance sheet. I am referring specifically to student accommodation because it was my understanding that Ts were promised at the time that they would be able to borrow specifically for that. The concern about PPPs is, going back to our earlier discussion, student accommodation being affordable for students. With regard to the ability for the TUs to borrow and to deliver their own student accommodation, if the Minister wants to give them loads of money in the budget for direct builds and fund TUs that way, that will be all well and good.

PPPs have their place in the economy as well as direct Exchequer funding for capital works. In a previous role we would have discussed this topic at length. PPPs have their place and are important. The structure of them, how they are laid out, the impact they have in terms of cost for the service user, in this case the student for accommodation, and site acquisition are something that ultimately the learner will be the principal beneficiary of.

Direct Exchequer funding is also a route and outside of the TUs, the European Investment Bank has been a very strong collaborator in the delivery of not only student accommodation but also significant capital investment in the university sector for what I call the "older" universities. I met them recently with the Minister for Fnance, Deputy Michael McGrath.

It is not a binary question; there are a number of different facets. The question the Deputy initially asked was if there is consideration being given to a borrowing framework and the answer is "absolutely". There is further work to de done on this with the Department of Finance, the HEA and with our own Department and is certainly something we are keeping going.

I want to give the Minister of State an opportunity to inform the House with respect to the current situation regarding employment contracts for adult educators and whether he has any plans to review these contracts, improve on them and to make them more career-friendly. Will he outline what the future holds for this important sector?

A proposal was issued to staff representatives last year to establish a new grade of adult educator, with a standardised pay scale aligned with the Youthreach resource person scale. A number of issues arose in subsequent negotiations with staff representatives on the implementation of the proposal. These issues have since been resolved and agreement reached on a revised offer to tutors employed by education and training boards in adult, community and further education settings.

Existing adult education tutors have the option of moving to the new incremental pay scale with effect from 1 April 2023 or remaining on their current terms and conditions. Assimilation to the adult educator scale will be based on the tutors’ current rates of pay and their full-time equivalence will be based on their current contracted hours. The contractual obligations of adult educators will be to deliver 1,044 contact hours and an associated 782 non-contact hours, equating to 1,826 hours for a whole-time post.

Tutors on fixed-term contracts will be issued with adult educator contracts on renewal of their contracts and all newly-hired adult educators will be appointed to the new grade and commence on the first point of the scale.

The education and training boards were notified of the implementation arrangements in April. With a view to ensuring implementation takes place this year, the ETBs were requested to issue offer letters to allow sufficient time for tutors to consider their options in order for contract changes to take effect from September 2024.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and congratulate him on the work being done in this area, which seems to be very progressive.

Will he comment on incremental pay rates and career progression in this important sector? Many adult educators work with some quite vulnerable clients and students who need a lot of help and assistance to progress. In some instances, there is no certainty with regard to employment going forward, contracts and so on. Is it the case that in some of these instances contracts run from September to the end of August, break and then run again. Will the Minister of State comment on that general area?

I thank the Deputy and will make a couple of other observations. The cost of this deal have been estimated at €2.6 million assuming all tutors assimilate. However, the actual cost will be dependent on the numbers of tutors who opt to assimilate into the new grade. We have asked the ETBs to maintain records to facilitate the identification of the costs.

The Deputy asked about the future.

The implementation of these arrangements will be fully reviewed after 12 months to ensure that we can learn from it. I also want to mention that this option does not apply to tutors engaged in adult self-financing programmes in FET colleges or those who are ineligible for access to public service pension schemes. There is more detail on that which I will forward to the Deputy afterwards.

Will the Minister of State give an indication of how many adult educators are involved in this scheme nationally? How many students are impacted or benefiting from the various schemes or courses involved here? The Minister of State has given an indication of the total extra cost but has he any indication of the total overall budget involved in the sector?

Regarding the accommodation information that may be available, have any universities or third level institutions been identified? For instance, Maynooth University has already been identified and has achieved some progress in that area. The previous Minister made that information available to the House. Does that apply to any other third level institutions?

I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 64 together.

I am committed to progressing a new policy to provide State assistance to stimulate the development of new student accommodation. In April, the Taoiseach and I announced capital investment of €100 million from the national development plan windfall allocation for delivery of student accommodation projects. This enables the activation of 1,014 beds in UCD, DCU and Maynooth. Our long-term policy was approved by the Government on 16 January 2024. The approach includes measures for increasing supply of student accommodation through State support, reducing cost of delivery through standardised design guidance, and promoting efficient use of existing stock and vacancy while supporting balanced regional development.

The policy will continue to focus on the provision of digs accommodation. It is important to recognise the role and provision of supply from the private sector in key campus locations, as I said previously to Deputy Farrell. We have extended measures under the rent a room scheme to increase supply for students, including an income disregard for SUSI and medical card eligibility, and expansion for local authority tenants to participate in the scheme for students. The Minister for housing and his officials are expediting legal changes to restrict 51-week lease agreements for students who do not require them.

Current supply figures indicate that 14,599 new beds have been built since 2017. Of these, nearly 1,500 were completed in 2023. Work is under way on site on an additional 2,090 bed spaces, while planning permission has been obtained for a further 10,986 beds. Planning applications in respect of a further 2,016 beds have been sought. As of 31 May, our higher education institutions have indicated that there are approximately 2,221 beds available in digs accommodation nationally.

This is a significant issue in my county, Meath, particularly for people travelling from north Meath into Dublin, for example. Some people are lucky enough to be able to live at home but they are denied the independence of living away from home during their college years. The issue above all else, though there are others, such as transport connections, is the issue of affordability. What is the Minister doing to address the issue of the lack of affordability of student accommodation? An important feature of this is whether capital investment will be included in the budget this year. It was incredible to me and to many others that capital investment was not included in last year's budget. Will that be addressed in the year ahead?

There was capital investment in the past 12 months. I outlined it in the response that I gave. It came from the windfall. The current supply figures show that almost 15,000 beds have been completed since 2017. Of these, 1,500 were completed in 2023 alone. As I said a while ago with regard to costs, one of the most important things, which I hope the Deputy will welcome and support, is the legislation that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will bring forward on the 51-week versus 40-week leases for students, where they are not charged for the time outside term when they are not there. I hope the Deputy supports that.

Deputy Durkan's homeplace includes Maynooth University, which is one of the three that have been advanced. We will be anxious to see what other levers are available to us. The long-standing, older universities have access to the European Investment Bank, as I mentioned a while ago. Some of them have used it quite effectively and have borrowing mechanisms. Others are using different tools. A substantial number of private sector planning permissions have been granted and, for one reason or another, have not been taken up. There is a body of work to encourage local authorities to make sure that unused planning permissions are taken up where possible and to engage with developers. As well as that, the town centre first and the vacancy proposals that have been supported by the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, through the rural and urban regeneration programmes are other initiatives that have been welcomed in many provincial towns such as Maynooth. They have given life back to the centre of towns, where older properties can be brought back into use through schemes such as Croí Cónaithe, which the Department will certainly support.

Given the information that is available and the planning permission that has been taken up and is viable at this stage, if numbers can be calculated from that, what number will be available in the next academic year and in subsequent years, with a view to ensuring that we get before the problem before the problem accelerates and gets before us?

It is just a statement of fact that there is nowhere near the necessary accommodation to meet demand. The accommodation that is available is not in any way affordable to people. The Minister talked about his experience of being in digs in the city of Cork. In my college experience in the city of Dublin 25 years ago, it was digs, private rented and shared accommodation, all on a maintenance grant. There is not a snowball's chance in hell that you could afford that in 2024. On the issue of affordability, to play around with numbers and re-present the same figures as the Minister's predecessor has done time and again is simply unacceptable. We need to see progress on this. I accept the point about the upcoming legislation. I am sure we on this side of the House and colleagues will engage with that. We need to see these issues progressed and addressed rapidly.

Not to point out the obvious, but we do not own the accommodation. In most of the cases, it is private. In Dublin, for instance, at the end of May 2024, the data that the universities provided themselves, as well as for digs accommodation for Maynooth, shows that there were 140 rooms for Trinity, 228 rooms for UCD, 217 for DCU, and 174 for Maynooth. It behoves all Deputies to recognise the fact that there is an issue but many things have been done. The Deputy never addressed the substantial tax changes made in the last budget or the fact that when he was Minister, Deputy Harris made substantial changes to SUSI eligibility. He never addressed the fact that SUSI was changed considerably for four consecutive budgets by Deputy Harris when he was Minister in the Department. He never addressed the legislation, which I hope he will support, which the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will bring in. We know there is a problem but we have done an awful lot. The glass is not half empty.

To create this impression that there is nothing going on is not fair to the officials in the Department, the universities themselves or the parents of families who take in students, as they did for me and others. The Deputy is actually being a bit disingenuous.

With regard to Deputy Durkan’s point, I do not have the data available to me in a tabular form broken down by each of the local authority areas, but I will get that for the Deputy. I will also get information for him about which are due to expire because that is probably the most important thing. There may be planning permissions that are due to expire that can add substantially to this. We need help from the private sector. Some political parties believe the private sector has no role here. I do not believe that. I believe the private sector has a really important part to play here, such as by bringing people into their own homes or renting houses to them. I do not think it should be vilified. I will get the data for the Deputy.

I want to ask about the expansion of mental health services across third-level institutions. This is of huge concern to students at this moment in time, particularly because they are facing very long waiting lists to see a service. When the amount of mental health supports are compared with the number of students in the universities, they just do not seem to be adequate at this point. What are the plans in that regard?

I thank Deputy Farrell for raising this important issue. We had quite a good discussion with regard to disabilities in the previous session. This session has been dominated by the issue of accommodation. I am glad this issue has been raised because I have a particular interest in it.

Well-being and student mental health are priorities for me and the Department. Higher education institutions receive funding from a variety of different sources that contribute to the provision of mental health supports to students, including through recurrent funding allocated by my Department through the Higher Education Authority.

Recognising the pressures on students arising from Covid and cost-of-living issues since 2020, the Department has provided a total of €20.9 million in additional funding to HEIs to support mental health measures for students on their educational journey. This funding is also provided to support the implementation of the national student mental health and suicide prevention framework. Institutions in receipt of this funding are encouraged to distribute it in support of specific student-facing areas, including the recruitment of additional student counsellors, assistant psychologists and head of service posts; training of staff to enable them to support and refer students to appropriate services; and raising awareness among students of mental health and well-being services that are available, including through student outreach activities. The majority of new posts created through this funding have been counsellors, reflecting the capacity building phase of the implementation of the framework. Institutions have reported a breadth of positive impacts, from a reduction in engagement times to an increase in the number of sessions being provided to learners, which is the most important thing.

The further education and training strategy for 2020 to 2024 recognises the importance of supporting learners in mental health and well-being and commits to embedding it in professional development for staff and in the curriculum for learners. Mental health and well-being supports are a condition of funding within the annual funding requirements set out by SOLAS for the ETBs. SOLAS and the further education sector are committed to supporting all learners by providing high-quality, more inclusive, and flexible education and training programmes, including mental health support. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

I will give the Minister some context about why I am asking this question. First, I have met with many different students. This is a key issue that keeps coming up with the students' unions and broadly with the students as well. Galway is a place I know well. A GP came to me and said that because of the lack of adequate mental health supports within the universities, they are seeing a spillover into their own GP practices. That obviously comes at a cost for students and many students do not have access to that. Many students who have spoken to me, and I have asked them about this specifically, have said that they might get an appointment after waiting for a period, but when it comes to getting a follow-up appointment, etc., it just simply is not there.

I welcome that the Minister says this is a priority for him, and I hope we can see this reflected in the budget and through practical, on-the-ground supports in our universities.

I thank the Deputy. To give some examples, the higher education institutions received €5 million for this. The Atlantic Technological University, which has a very substantial campus in Galway, in 2023 received an allocation of €431,667. The University of Galway received an allocation of €316,438. We all have the same objective here. I have been in Deputy Farrell's and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle’s city on more than one occasion. I was doing a totally different job there. I was there as part of my previous role and I was with engineers from Galway City Council and others. I am acutely aware of one particular part of the city that, unfortunately, has claimed so many lives. Whether these have been visitors, students or locals, I am very conscious of that.

This is not something that is unique to one particular part of the country. This is an issue that we can, thankfully, now discuss in an open forum and that has been destigmatised over many years. There is a lot of work left to be done on this. The higher education institutions have a role in this. I respect their autonomy in this, but I am prepared to support them and it is my intention to support them further as we move on in the budget discussions that are coming up.

There was a problem with the Minister's predecessor who had a habit of making reannouncements. I have mentioned it before and I saw it regarding mental health supports and the funding for them - unfortunately, I cannot get the figure, although I tried to search for it - where there was an announcement as though it was extra, additional funding, but it was actually just the funding that was already baselined and already being used.

I take the figures the Minister is giving at the moment. However, I am just being honest with him when I say that there is currently just not enough for students and they are saying that very clearly. We know there are additional stresses at this time for many students, such as long commutes - anybody who has done a long commute can tell you how it impacts on mental health - and this is because they cannot access accommodation. I am really concerned about this because we need to have the supports in place. I hope the Minister can prioritise this and see what kind of supports can be put in place. If the Minister speaks to the students' unions, they will be able to tell him about this as well.

This is not an issue that is confined to one part of the country nor is it confined to a conversation between one Deputy and another. This is an issue that we all, unfortunately, come into contact with. It is important to point out this was starting from a zero base. The former Minister, who is now Taoiseach, allocated approximately €5 million per year since 2020. That was to recognise the pressures that were there from Covid, which everybody experienced and which was an absolutely horrific period of time. That has been maintained. Is there scope for it to be grown? Obviously, every health service, mental and otherwise, has scope to grow. I have competing demands, but it is something I feel is very important. We can now, thankfully, discuss it in a forum whereas maybe 30 years ago this would have been unheard of. It is refreshing that this is the case, and more definitely needs to be done with it.

The HEIs have their own resources as well, in particular, the older universities - I hate calling them that. I would like to see them doing more in this space as well. Obviously, for those that are financially challenged, we will be prepared to look at that going forward. However, this will be in the context of the round of the budget, and we have had a lot of competing demands in this Chamber already tonight.

I thank Deputy Durkan for this very important question. The tertiary education system plays an essential role in ensuring our graduates from higher education, further education and training and from the apprenticeship models are equipped with the essential vocational, professional and other skills and competencies that will equip them for success in work. The agility and flexibility of the tertiary system is underscored by its responsiveness to priority industry and enterprise workforce needs under key policy initiatives that require whole-of-government efforts and collaboration. Those concerted efforts aim to improve a balance between skills, demand and supply.

As Deputy Durkan will be aware, the Department has made significant progress since its establishment to increase the number of places in higher education programmes in the areas of acute skills needs, and this work is still ongoing.

There have been significant investments in additional provisions across multiple programmes and disciplines, including landmark agreements for additionality in medicine and other healthcare disciplines in the North and this jurisdiction. On construction skills, the Department works with partners such as SOLAS, the National Construction Training Campus, education and training boards and professional representative bodies to address supply. There is a significant expansion of relevant courses, including apprenticeships as well as the development of new provision to address innovations such as modern methods of construction. A key priority of mine and the Department is to continue the important work with the Government to ensure we meet workforce demand across many sectors.

I note the often-sighted notices to the effect that various organisations are hiring, which is repeated many times in all aspects of employment all over the country. Having regard to that demand right now, to what extent is it possible to meet the challenge of supply and demand as it stands? If that can be achieved, what will it be like in a couple of years? Can we plan for that now in order to improve supply?

That is a very broad question. To be fair to Deputy Durkan, he is asking me to look into a crystal ball. If I was looking into the crystal ball of the Minister, Deputy McGrath, on his way out today, he basically said that economic growth will continue on the trajectory it is on for the next couple of years. Our population will continue to grow and we will require a number of things. We will require a level of upskilling and migration - some people in this House and outside believe that is a bad thing. I believe it is a good thing. It makes the country far more diverse and makes us a more attractive place for people to come to. In doing that, higher education institutes along with ETBs and colleges will have to be prepared not only to provide courses for those already resident in the country but also for those who want to make Ireland their home. That will be a challenge. Workforce planning with the Minister, Deputy Burke's Department, through the likes of Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, is already under way. If there are specific areas which Deputy Durkan is worried about or specific sectors of the economy, he might give me the details and we can provide exact information with regard to what we are doing sector by sector.

To use the example of health professions needed, we have done more than make a good stab at that. A lot of positive work has taken place on an all-island basis with all of the universities across the island, making sure that those who will be needed for various different therapies and disciplines in medicine can be trained on an all-island basis and be supported by the Government in this jurisdiction. That is important. Further work needs to be done. The Deputy will have heard the Taoiseach speaking in the Dáil about access for people with disabilities and the therapists needed. There is a challenge for higher education institutions to take in more people. We are confident it will be possible to take in more people in various disciplines in collaboration with the HSE to make sure they are trained on wards in hospitals and get proper placements. There is a body of work in that regard. Across the range of the economy, this is the bread and butter of the National Skills Council, together with my Department, SOLAS, ETBs and universities. It is what they look at and they try to do what the Deputy did, which is look into the crystal ball to see where we will be in 2030 or 2035 and make the best guesstimate for that.