Results 1,121-1,140 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: A leave of absence may be granted to a teacher or special needs assistant who is unable to perform their duties due to a physical injury following physical contact from a third party that happened in the course of their duties and during approved school activities. In accordance with Section 14 of the Education Act 1998, it is the duty of the Patron to appoint, where practicable, a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the state examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (5 Nov 2024)

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 recruitment and appointment of teachers for teaching positions is managed by individual school authorities. There are over 3,700 individual school authorities, responsible for this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: A leave of absence may be granted to a teacher or special needs assistant who is unable to perform their duties due to a physical injury following physical contact from a third party that happened in the course of their duties and during approved school activities. In accordance with Section 14 of the Education Act 1998, it is the duty of the Patron to appoint, where practicable, a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, 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. Additionally, Project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capital Expenditure Programme (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: Since 2020, my department has invested over €5 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 950 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 350 other projects, which includes 37 new school buildings. These 350 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.5bn. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: Since 2011, arrangements have been in place for the establishment of new schools involving the forecasting of demand for school places based on demographic exercises carried out by my Department. New schools are only established in areas of demographic growth, as the resources available for school infrastructure have to be prioritised to ensure that every child has a school place. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The purpose of the small schools’ project is to inform the development of a policy of supports for small schools through working with education partners to trial innovative approaches to support and sustain small schools in a number of clusters. There are 24 schools in the project in six clusters, two in Galway, and one each in Donegal, Kerry, Wicklow and Waterford, consisting of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Site Acquisitions (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: Following an extensive site identification and assessment exercise, a number of potential site options have been shortlisted for further consideration. This includes more detailed technical and economic appraisals of these potential site options. The Department is working towards securing the most suitable site for this school while ensuring value for money for the exchequer is achieved....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Parental Leave (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The purpose of Parental Leave is to allow a teacher a period of unpaid leave to care for their child. In line with the provisions of the Parental Leave Act (as amended), a teacher may avail of Parental Leave in blocks of at least one week up to a maximum of 26 weeks. Each period of Parental Leave must be a minimum duration of 7 consecutive days including weekends, school closures and days...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The school building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under my Department’s Design and Build Programme and will provide a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school and accommodation, including 4 classrooms, for children with special educational needs on a site at Kishogue Cross, Griffeen Avenue, Lucan, Co Dublin. The Invitation to Tender issued in April...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: I can advise the Deputy that this school recently submitted an application under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme for an additional mainstream classroom, a principal’s office, a secretary’s office and a GP room. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: I wish to outline to the Deputy details of the procedures to process applications for teachers and school staff appointments at the start of each new school year, and the commitment of staff of my Department to efficiently process these applications. Early in the New Year, each school is advised by my Department of their teaching allocations for the forthcoming school year. It is the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2023/24 school year over 163,800 children, including over 136,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 20,200 pupils with special educational needs, and 7,400 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2023/24 school year over 163,800 children, including over 136,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 20,200 pupils with special educational needs, and 7,400 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The large scale capital project at the school for the provision of a new 600 pupil school and ancillary accommodation is at Architectural Planning Stage 3 – Tender Action and Award. A new grant of planning was received in December 2023, with a number of conditions attached. The Design Team are examining the implications of these conditions along with reviewing technical design...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved a project to cater for a school with 1,300 students. The building project for this school has been devolved for delivery to Dublin Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board (DDLETB) under a service level agreement. Significant technical challenges for the delivery of the project on the current site have been identified. Given the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The school in question to which the Deputy refers submitted an application for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for roof works. The application in question is currently being assessed by technical area within the EWS team. Once a technical recommendation has been received the EWS team will engage further with the school as appropriate. The EWS team is aware of the urgent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: My Department is providing a payroll service for school secretaries which are covered under the terms of Circular 36/2022. The provision of a payroll service is part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). While this agreement includes revised terms and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (5 Nov 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2023/24 school year over 163,800 children, including over 136,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 20,200 pupils with special educational needs, and 7,400 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis to...