2026-01-29

88. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the plans within his Department to develop a further and expanded phase of programme for access to higher education, PATH, 4 funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6868/26]

I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy John Connolly. The programme for access to higher education, PATH, 4, is the universal design for learning. It supports HEIs in making teaching assessment and student supports more inclusive. Does the Minister or Department plan on developing or expanding any phases of PATH 4?

I thank the Deputy. The PATH 4 programme is extremely important. I am very proud of it and the Taoiseach is very supportive of it as well. We have discussed it directly in Cabinet. It supports the goal of enabling all learners with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, to avail of higher education. I have visited a number of PATH 4 locations, including in Cork - I think it is called the field of dreams. I have been to the Trinity centre for people with intellectual disabilities. Each one is remarkable in terms of the participation, enablement and autonomy it provides students who can avail of the service. I am keen to continue to support the programme. The two phases of PATH 4 aim to strengthen universal design for all students. Universal design means making sure that buildings, courses and how we navigate them internally are geared towards students with various different disability types in mind. The programme also enhances opportunities for the engagement of students with intellectual disabilities to fully participate in courses in a way that suits them and from which they can fully benefit. A total of €5.8 million has been allocated under PATH 4 since 2022. Some €3 million was allocated in 2022 and I was pleased to bring forward last year a further €2.8 million for the period 2025-2026. To date, that funding has been introduced on a phased basis year by year and is something I hope to mainstream. I plan to update my Cabinet colleagues on proposals in that regard to make the funding a permanent feature of the system. I expect to make an announcement on that in the near future.

I thank the Minister for his reply. There has been a concerted effort from the Minister and the Department to ensure that PATH 4 is expanded. It is about realising the potential of every young person through education, in particular. PATH 4 certainly offers that. There has been strong uptake across higher education institutions, improved staff capacity and awareness, and inclusive training and teaching. There is early evidence of more accessible learning. I pay tribute to some positive examples. Maynooth University has delivered universal design for learning, UDL, training to academic staff and developed inclusive assessment pilots; University College Cork has embedded UDL principles into first-year curriculum redesign projects; and Technological University Dublin has introduced UDL-aligned digital learning standards and staff workshops. However, there does not seem to be a standardisation or an even implementation across higher education institutions. I know we are still at the early stages of UDL adoption, but if there were a standardisation across the higher education institutions, that would make it more accessible to more people.

Yes, that is fair. I think 193 students are enrolled in PATH 4 phase 2. The original target or expectation was that it might hit 160 students, so it has gone well beyond that, which I am delighted to see. They are running across 11 different programmes. I will not list them out but there is a reasonably good spread geographically and they include the technological universities and the traditional universities right across the board, with multiple institutions participating. The way in which those courses or colleges were identified and chosen followed a competitive call for proposals. The Deputy asked how this was decided. There was a PATH initiative under strand 4 whereby an independent expert panel was commissioned to say which of these applications should be supported and, following a competitive call, these 11 were chosen. The courses are typically between one and two years in length. I hope this does not need to be said but I will just say it anyway. The courses are free and there is no charge for participation. There was a significant consultation across many Departments. The National Learning Network, SOLAS, the Irish Universities Association, the inclusive national forum, Down Syndrome Ireland and many others were also consulted in devising the courses and the allocations.

I understand the phased approach, but ensuring multi-year funding would allow higher education institutions to move from pilot phases to full implementation. I ask as well that a national UDL benchmark be established so we can measure consistency across higher education institutions. We need to ensure there are benchmarks that show what is success, what is working and not working, and what we can learn from, change and improve. Finally, I ask for further support to institutions with dedicated UDL co-ordinators or teams. Having a team on campus supporting these students is particularly important. Seeing those types of measures in place will certainly benefit those students now and into the future.

I will address the UDL piece first. I thank an Teachta Connolly. I know Deputy Ó Cearúil is taking this question in his stead. Deputy Connolly has invited me to a UDL conference in University of Galway later this year, which he is involved in arranging and which I very much hope to attend. That will be a very important milestone in rolling out UDL more widely and discussions about this issue. In terms of mainstreaming our permanent funding, this was, to an extent, a new pilot programme when it was introduced in 2022. It was funded until, I think, 2024. When I came into office I allocated a further €2.8 million to it to continue for this year and last year, the intention being, having done a second phase or second tranche of funding, and all going well, and it has done very well, to look then to mainstream that and put it onto a more permanent, sustainable footing. As I said, I intend to bring a memo to Cabinet in the near future on that note. I hope I will have good news to share with the Deputy in the House at that stage.