Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan Monaghan, Brendan Smith has welcomed the Government’s commitment to reopen third level education. 

As announced last week, a plan is to be published in June for an enhanced campus experience for third level students for the next academic year, starting in September. 

Deputy Smith commented, “Students and parents need this commitment so they can plan for the upcoming academic year. As we know, there are very substantial costs involved for parents when it comes to renting accommodation and other important expenses as part of their child’s third level education.” 

Under Level 5, third level has remained online with exceptions made for practical and time critical work. As part of the Government announcement, it was confirmed there would be a significant increase in on-site third level activity in September. 

Deputy Smith added, “While we know that due to the pandemic, most learning had to be done online, we simply cannot have an academic year like the last one. It is so important now that we plan to get our students back on campus in September. This has been an incredibly tough year for all students, but there will be better days on the horizon, and the planning for that starts now.” 

ENDS