Results 5,181-5,200 of 19,968 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, in order to plan for school place needs, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for my Department. In order to plan for school place needs, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 273 and 274 together. I wish to advise the Deputy that requirements for school places is kept under on-going review in the context of available information on population, enrolments and residential development activity. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Citizens' Assembly (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 276 and 277 together. The Programme for Government commits to establishing a Citizens’ Assembly on the Future of Education ensuring that the voices of young people and those being educated are central. The Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use recently held its final meeting and the final report from this assembly is scheduled to be published in due...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: While over 90% of services are contracted locally, Bus Éireann apply stringent assessments of each individual driver on over 7,000 school routes. This includes vetting and background checks. It is Bus Éireann company policy that normal retirement age for all Bus Éireann staff is currently 66 years. However, Bus Éireann part-time school bus drivers and drivers...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were provided...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department is very recently in receipt of an application for capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 281 to 284, inclusive, together. Tá an Roinn Oideachais lántiomanta a ndualgais reachtúla faoi Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla (leasú) 2021 a chomhlíonadh. Tá mo Roinnse ag obair chun a chinnitiú go gcuirfear ar a laghad 20% d’fhógraíocht ar bith ar fáil i nGaeilge agus go n-úsáidfear ar a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: This year my Department published “Forbairt 2023 Annual Statement of Priorities”, a statement of priority actions to be delivered in 2023 that elaborates upon and develops the strategic actions set out in the Statement of Strategy 2021-2023, which sets out the vision, mission and strategic goals that guides the Department’s work programme for the 2021-2023 period. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I was delighted to launch together with the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth the Solar for Schools scheme . It will allow up to 4,000 schools nationwide to get solar PV panels to reduce their energy bills and their carbon emissions. This ties in with the strong ethos of environmental awareness and climate sustainability among our...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: Since 2020 we have invested in the region of €3.5 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 690 school building projects with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects. School building projects at construction involve an overall State investment of over €1.2 billion. There are also over 200 modular accommodation...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: Temporary prefab accommodation in schools may be rented or purchased and funded by the Department or by the school authority itself, with or without Department sanction. As the Deputy will appreciate, within the context of a rapidly increasing school population combined with arriving Ukrainian children, my Department's priority is to ensure that every child has access to a physical school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. The vast majority of sanctioned teacher positions are filled. The rate of resignation and retirement is very low by any standard and is consistent with previous years. The recruitment and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department has provided reference to guidelines for school fencing in its School Design Guidelines which are available on the Department's website. I am including an extract from the guidance documents below in response to the Deputy's query. As can be seen, there is provision for flexibility in the design of the boundary fencing, relative to the specific circumstances of the school....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/23 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The requested information is being compiled by the Department and will be released as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System (or GIS) to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit Data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. In addition,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school in question was approved funding under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme for the provision of 9 mainstream classrooms, 2 SET rooms, 2 classroom SEN base and ancillary. My Department received a pre stage 1 report, and requested further clarification on some aspects of the information submitted directly with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department does not have information regarding the number of pupils that did not secure a place in their first preference post-primary school. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Under the Education Act 1998, the question of enrolment policy in individual schools, is the...