Results 41-60 of 6,877 for speaker:Ruth Coppinger

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: Is it fair to say the Minister of State does not know the figure for children without school places? "Yes" or "No", because I want to move on.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: So he does not know right now how many children do not have school places.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: The Minister of State has said that four or five times throughout the meeting. I have to be brutal here. What should parents who do not get a school place do? For example, a mother I know has a son and this is her second year campaigning for a school place in Dublin 15, despite the task force. Will the Department pay for another preschool year for parents who cannot get a place?

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: If they do not get one, will there be funds?

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: Of course they are. They have been campaigning for two years. They campaigned last year and are campaigning this year. How long does it take to get a modular building? We hear about sanctioned classrooms but it seems to take a long time for some of them. Is there a contract with a particular company? How long does it take to get a modular building on site? The Minister of State will...

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: So it is six to nine months, normally.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: I have only got 15 seconds left.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: Okay. I just want to ask my last question on teacher----

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: I wanted to put my last question on teachers but Mr. Loftus just used up my time. Is the Department willing to consider a special allowance for teachers in special schools or teachers of autism classes? Principals cannot get them. That is the reality. They just cannot get teachers.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: Is the Minister of State for real? This is the biggest gaslighting I have heard. There is a complete shortage of teachers.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: I am just in shock at that claim. It is ridiculous.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: I am not expecting the Minister of State to have the figure today but the breakdown of schools that do not have autism classes would be very revealing. I am also hearing that religious patron schools are much less likely to have autism classes. It is something I have heard anecdotally but I cannot stand over it. I have heard it a lot though. Why is the Department accepting this? It should...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: I wish to challenge the grounds on which those amendments have been ruled out. First, they are not a cost to the State because the State is currently paying for separated and divorced partners. We are not adding in something. Rather, we are defending the group of people who are now going to be excluded. In the Minister’s introduction and his comments on these amendments, he...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: By creating another one.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: I am not saying that cohabitees should not be included, so the Minister can leave that argument out.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: The Minister is taking away from one-----

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: I am talking about the fact that the Minister has equalised in relation to cohabitants but is now taking it away from people who are separated and divorced, who may have children and who may have maintenance arrangements and all sorts of things. I am asking him how he justifies that. What are those people going to live on?

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: Such as?

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2025)

Ruth Coppinger: Such as?