Results 5,381-5,400 of 19,968 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (30 Nov 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: School Funding (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep, and the ancillary/Schools Services Support Fund (SSSF) grant to cater for the cost of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy that the school referred to, was approved a project under my Department's Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) Scheme and responsibility for the delivery of this project has been devolved to the school authority. The school authority has appointed a design team and submitted design options in their stage 1 report to my Department. Professional and technical...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Completion Programme, SCP, is a central element of Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS), a key policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level. The programme is funded by my Department via Tusla Education Support Service, TESS, who have overall operational responsibility for the programme. At present, management of the SCP...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (30 Nov 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 the Department. As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Department of Education’s Statement of Strategy sets out the vision, mission and goals in order to provide an education system where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential. It aims to ensure that our school system is open and welcoming for all students, regardless of background, and that in particular learners...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 102 and 335 together. The Programme for Government reflects the Government’s objective of continuing to expand the plurality of schools to reflect the full breadth of society. It sets out that “students of all religions and none should have access to education, regardless of their belief system”. The Programme for Government commitments in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Housing Provision (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Government is committed to the delivery of quality public services and will continue to approach public service pay in a balanced way that is reasonable and fair to both public servants and the taxpayer. However, the Government acknowledges that the housing issue and the current price pressures in society present particular challenges and are a source of concern for all public service...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (30 Nov 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. Budget 2024 contains a range of measures that demonstrate my commitment to continued investment in our education system.A professional masters’ of education incentive scheme will be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (30 Nov 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: Renewable Energy Generation (30 Nov 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 first phase of the SchoolsPhotovoltaic Programme on 23rd November. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (30 Nov 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: School Staff (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Government is committed to the delivery of quality public services, and will continue to approach public service pay in a balanced way that is reasonable and fair to both public servants and the taxpayer. This has been achieved through series of national collective agreements applying across the public sector agreed between trade unions and the Government. The value of public pay...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (30 Nov 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: School Enrolments (30 Nov 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: Citizens' Assembly (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: 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 before the end of 2023. The establishment of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland including the registration of Teachers in the State. The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 was published last year and is underpinned by an investment of €200m to support its implementation, committed to under Ireland’s National Development Plan (NDP). The first tranche of €50m issued to all recognised primary and post-primary schools in late 2021. The previous Digital Strategy for Schools 2015 to 2020 saw overall...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 118 together. The Department of Education is committed to supporting the emotional wellbeing of our children and I am very pleased to provide an update on the significant progress that has been made on Strands 1 and 2 of the pilot in almost 650 primary schools across the country. I am also delighted to announce that my Department has secured...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Online Safety (30 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, I recently introduced a numbers of measures to support internet safety and awareness for primary school age children and their parents, particularly in relation to smartphone usage. New guidelines for parents entitled “Keeping Childhood Smartphone Free” are now available online and will be issued to all primary schools. The new guidelines contain...