Results 7,921-7,940 of 11,299 for speaker:Colm Burke

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Regarding the actual connections to broadband in the schools themselves, do we still have a problem with some schools and do we know the scale of that problem? Teachers worked from their own homes because the vast majority of them had access. In some cases it was very difficult but they still put in the work and effort to ensure that they were able to communicate with their students....

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Do we know the scale of either secondary schools or primary schools where that is a problem?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Okay, but I presume the witnesses are pressing the Department that any problem areas are resolved between now and 1 September.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I accept that. I want to return briefly to the issue of adequate space in schools. At the moment we have 2 m distancing and some schools will have a huge problem with that. When schools go back on 1 September perhaps that will have been reduced downward. On the issue of not all students coming to school at one time, for instance, where people are coming in the morning and then a different...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Is there engagement with schools on this issue already?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I thank the witness.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: No, I am fine.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: I thank the speakers and the organisations represented here for the work they have done over recent months in very difficult times. It has been hugely challenging for teachers. They have worked very hard, many of them from home, to keep in contact with their students and continue to provide assistance and guidance to them. I welcome in particular Mary Magner, who is a principal in Blarney...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Education – Return to School and School Transport (2 Jul 2020)

Colm Burke: Mr. Boyle earlier referred to the need for buy-in by everyone. Where do the witnesses feel the biggest challenge is going to be with that buy-in?

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: 49. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider an extension of Covid-19 pandemic support schemes to aid those in the photography and videography business sector until such time as the sector can sustainably recover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13149/20]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: 150. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the procedures and support available to school bus operators following Covid-19 restrictions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12958/20]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: 176. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if additional resources will be made available to reduce class sizes in a school (details supplied) in view of the fact that classes are being amalgamated and the sizes of classes are increasing to over 30 from September 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13113/20]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: 186. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if funding will be provided to a school (details supplied) to enable it to proceed with the building of a school hall, woodwork room, music room and additional classrooms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13195/20]

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: May I raise an issue?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: Last week, conflicting evidence was given by two people. A representative from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, told the committee about the number of healthcare workers who are still out sick and the evidence from Dr. Colm Henry on Thursday was the total opposite. The committee should write to both those witnesses to seek clarification on how they arrived at their figures...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: We should seek clarification on how those witnesses arrived at the figures they gave. There may be valid reasons for arriving at those figures but we should find out.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Business of Special Committee (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: They are.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: SME Recovery (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: There are five minutes available.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: SME Recovery (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: I thank Mr. Moran for coming in this morning and for his contribution over the past three to four months in dealing with very difficult issues within the small business sector. I want to focus on the banks and his own experience. In terms of the issues I am coming up against, a very simple one is where people are having difficulty in drawing down mortgages, which means builders do not get...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: SME Recovery (30 Jun 2020)

Colm Burke: Can I interrupt Mr. Moran? I have quite a number of files on my desk, including a case where people have been approved a mortgage but where only one of the parties is being paid by their employer. They are not getting a Covid payment but their employer is getting one and the banks are refusing to allow drawdown, even though the other partner in the transaction is getting their full salary....