Ninth Level Ireland

“Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael): I am delighted to be here today again addressing Dáil Éireann on the work of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. We have been working very hard in recent months to establish a new Department. Indeed, the Department was only formally set up in law last August and we have tried to pursue an ambitious agenda of work since then …” (more)

[Dáil debates, 10 March]

“Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rejected a call for the Leaving Certificate exams to be cancelled and for a university place to be offered to every student who wants one. He also rejected claims that the Government had been ‘dithering’ over the status of the exams and said it was engaging with all the education partners to give students the clarity on the exams that they need …” (more)

[Marie O’Halloran, Irish Times, 17 February]

“In 2020, as the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic raged, students campaigned using coordinated social media actions, petitions and huge online rallies, to cancel the Leaving Cert and won. Now in early 2021, student action has put the cancellation of the Leaving Cert on the agenda, pressured opposition parties to somewhat support students’ demands, and cornered the government into making a decision next week …” (more)

[Keishia Taylor, Shane Finnan and Conor Tormey, Socialist Party, 10 February]

“This year’s Leaving Cert should be cancelled as a result of Covid-19, with all students allowed to access their first or second-choice college courses, a Solidarity–People Before Profit TD has insisted. Mick Barry said today that running the exams – a rite of passage for thousands of young people across the country every year – risks ‘the potential for an unacceptable level of mental health pressures on a large number of leaving cert students’ …” (more)

[Donal MacNamee, Irish Mirror, 6 January]

“‘Student nurses’ are ‘nursing students’ who are in a clinical setting – in Ireland, they are not paid. If they were paid where would the money come from? Would already graduated nurses seek back pay? The Government certainly has many issues to consider before making any change, but in the short term the question is being hotly debated by the opposition …” (more)

[Elaine Murphy, TheCork.ie, 14 December]

“This year saw a major increase of pressure on our healthcare staff and facilities. The Covid-19 crisis put our frontline workers at a dangerous risk of contracting the virus. Nurses and other healthcare staff had no choice but to work through an unprecedented situation, in an underfunded two-tier health system, in order to keep the infection rates low and the public safe …” (more)

[Leah Whelan, Socialist Party, 10 December]

“Solidarity TD Mick Barry has criticised the Government’s decision to reverse pension cuts for top civil servants in light of the recent vote against paying student nurses and midwives …” (more)

[Maeve Lee and Cate McCurry, EchoLive, 9 December]

“Student nurses are being used as ‘slave labour’ according to Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Mick Barry. Mr Barry told the Dáil student nurses are being ‘exploited’, according to the Irish Examiner, criticising the Government for failing to pay student nurses and midwives the same rate as health care assistants …” (more)

[Muireaan Duffy, BreakingNews.ie, 2 December]

“Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is examining whether to pay a bonus or other stipend to student nurses who work for free in Covid wards around the country. Confirmation of the move, previously mooted, comes after 12,000 people signed an internet petition overnight calling for the 3,000 students to be paid for both the work and the risk they are running of contracting the life-altering disease …” (more)

[Senan Molony, Independent, 27 November]

“President Michael D Higgins signed the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 into law on August 1st, ensuring tenants who are struggling to pay rent as a result of the pandemic remain protected. This legislation has been met with mixed opinions with Sinn Féin Housing Spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin, one of many opponents to the act describing the measure as an ‘attack on renters’ …” (more)

[Oisín Magfhogartaigh, College Tribune, 18 August]

“Concerns have been raised over the Leaving Certificate predictive grade mechanism and how it will impact students. Last week the Government cancelled the Leaving Certificate exams which were due to begin on July 29. Instead, students will now be offered the option of accepting grades calculated by their teachers or sitting the Leaving Certificate at a later date when the pandemic eases …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 13 May]

“There has been widespread solidarity shown with catering workers in University College Cork, who have been laid off from their posts amid the shut-down of the campus. Kylemore (KSG) has the contract to provide catering services to UCC but, following the Government’s directive to close colleges, it is understood a number of staff who worked in the university have been laid off …” (more)

[Sarah O’Dwyer, EchoLive, 15 March]

“Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of student accommodation units in the planning pipeline; and the number and percentages for both the public and private sectors …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 22 January]

“The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and certain politicians find themselves at odds with the Government’s proposed new loan scheme for third level education, saying that such plans are tantamount to a ‘return to full fees through the back door,’ and that the move would cause a ‘brain drain’ …” (more)

[Fernando Sanchez, TheLiberal.ie, 2 May]