Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
848. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the location in which his Department will be situated; his functions; the budget of his Department in tabular form; the areas his Department covers; his policy responsibilities as Minister; and the delegated functions of the Minister of State in his Department. [21732/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department will be situated in Dublin, Tullamore and Athlone.
My functions will encompass responsibility for policy, funding and governance of the Higher and Further Education and research sectors and for the oversight of the work of the state agencies and public institutions operating in those areas. My Department will cover each of these areas.
My policy responsibility as Minister will be to ensure that these sectors underpin and stimulate Ireland’s social and economic development and that the opportunities provided by public investment and policy in the sectors are made more available to everyone including the most vulnerable in our society.
Under section 6 of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1939, a Transfer of Functions Order is required to allow functions to be transferred to my Department. This work is currently being progressed in respect of both the Department of Education and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation from where functions will be sourced. Once this process is completed and orders made, the finance allocated in the 2020 Estimates and the National Training Fund will transfer with those functions. Separate to the Transfer of Functions Order, a 2020 Further Revised Estimates process is required for the movement of finances from one Department Vote to another.
The Government Decision in relation to the July Stimulus package committed additional financial resources to my Department. These finances will be additional to the movement of finances already included in the 2020 Further Revised Estimates as part of the transfer of functions. It is anticipated, that these additional finances will be allocated to this Department through a Supplementary Estimates process shortly after or in tandem with the Further Revised Estimates process.
