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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has today announced the roll-out of €1.15 million in funding to support Care leavers and members of the Traveller and Roma Communities to access third level education.

The funding, which is being provided through the Dormant Accounts Fund, will be used to pay student accommodation costs for young people in the care of the State.

Speaking today, Minister Harris said:

This will also be extended to members of the Traveller and Roma communities.

There is no official data on the number of care leavers accessing higher education. They are a priority group.

Data on care-experienced young people’s entry to higher education is limited to the data published via HEAR programme reporting since 2016 and this data only relates to those students who self-identify as care leavers.

A priority for the Department’s National Access Plan is to track the number of people who have had care-experience and their route into third level.

The Department has worked with the EPIC, Empowering People in Care, which provides a National Advocacy Service to children and young people in State care.

EPIC Youth Council Member, Kai Brosnan said:

In addition, the Minister has secured funding for an Apprenticeship bursary scheme for this cohort also. This will ensure a student in care who wishes to choose an apprenticeship will have access to financial supports. The bursary will be €3,000 each.

Minister Harris said:

Background to the Dormant Accounts Fund

The Dormant Accounts Acts 2001-2012, together with the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003, provide a framework for the administration of unclaimed accounts in credit institutions (i.e. banks, building societies and An Post) and unclaimed life assurance policies in insurance undertakings.

The main purpose of the legislation is to reunite account or policy holders with their funds in credit institutions or insurance undertakings and in this regard, these bodies are required to take steps to identify and contact the owners of dormant accounts and unclaimed life assurance policies.

However, in order to utilise the unused funds the legislation also introduced a scheme for the disbursement of funds that are unlikely to be reclaimed from dormant accounts and unclaimed policies for the purposes of measures to assist:

Traveller Apprenticeship Incentivisation Programme (TAIP)

The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 promotes general access, diversity and inclusion in apprenticeship by offering targeted supports to encourage participation from under-represented groups such as Travellers and young people who have been in state care. One of the Plan’s main objectives is “apprenticeship for all”, whereby the apprenticeship population better represents the national population.

Care Leavers in Apprenticeships

The Department has become increasingly aware of the barriers to accessing apprenticeships for young people leaving state care, who may have experienced disruptions to their education at primary and secondary level owing to the impact of being taken into care and the associated trauma, and often due to care placement moves.

Additionally, many young care-leavers are made independent at 18 and must navigate the transition from residential care or foster care while simultaneously trying to access further and higher education without family or community support and in the face of significant costs.

Student Accommodation Bursary for Traveller and Roma Communities and Care Leavers

The Department is committed to addressing supply of affordable student accommodation for priority group students, in line with policy commitments set out in the National Access Plan (NAP).

The NAP aims to support inclusion and diversity in the student body, address the wider struggles and challenges for students, and deliver sustainable progress. It recognises the needs of vulnerable learners, the most marginalised and those with special and additional needs. The plan targets and supports students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, students with disabilities and students from the Irish Traveller community.

The number of students accessing higher education who are members of the Irish Traveller community remains low. Less than 1% (33) of new entrants in the 2020/21 academic year were from the Traveller community. Only 119 students enrolled in HEIs were Irish Travellers. The proposed bursary aims to increase access and remove accommodation as a barrier to higher education for the Traveller and Roma Communities.

Simultaneously, the Department has become increasingly aware of the barriers to accessing accommodation for young people leaving state care, who may have experienced disruptions to their education at primary and secondary level owing to the impact of being taken into care and the associated trauma, and often due to care placement moves.

Additionally, many young care-leavers are made independent at 18 and must navigate the transition from residential care or foster care while simultaneously trying to access further and higher education without family or community support and in the face of significant costs.

There is currently no data on access rates to further and higher education and training amongst care-leavers in Ireland, but international research demonstrates that care-leavers are under-represented at higher level, and rates of attrition are significant.

Recognition of the specific disadvantage experienced by care-leavers resulted in their being named in the NAP for the first-time last year.

Building on successful initiatives in Ireland and across the UK and EU, an incentivisation programme for care-leavers to enable their access to accommodation is deemed both necessary and practicable in terms of enhancing their access to accommodation while attending higher education and training. €200,000 of funding for care leavers has been assigned.