Results 13,541-13,560 of 20,013 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I understand the need for improved capitation funding and I am pleased that budget 2020 has been able to provide for a further 2.5% increase in standard capitation funding for primary and post-primary schools that applied from the start of the 2020/21 school year. This builds on the 5% increase in capitation announced in budget 2019. The combined increases given in 2019 and 2020 mean that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System (GIS), using data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. With this information, the Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has a significant existing pipeline of projects to be delivered over the coming years to meet capacity needs managed under the Large Scale Capital Programme and the Additional School Accommodation Scheme. This involves in excess of 1,200 school building projects across the various stages of planning, design, tender and construction. The current...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Programmes (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) is the main policy instrument of my Department to tackle educational disadvantage. Budget 2022 has provided for an allocation of €18million for 2022 and €32million for 2023 to extend the DEIS programme to further schools with the highest levels of disadvantage. This represents an increase of over 20% in funding for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2020/21 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. All children who are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved for delivery to Kildare & Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB). I am pleased to inform you that the project was recently approved by the Department to proceed to Stage 2a of the architectural planning process. While at this early stage it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion of the project, KWETB will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/2021 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. The purpose of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department has previously identified State-owned lands as a possible site for a new permanent building for the school referred to by the Deputy following an unsuccessful site identification process a number of years ago. Given the passage of time since the original site identification process, my Department considered it prudent to carry out a further site identification exercise for a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Projects (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The provision of Irish-medium education is a priority for my Department and this Government, and we share a strong commitment to increasing the number of Irish-medium places available and providing suitable accommodation in this regard. As the Deputy may be aware, in March I approved a proposal for a new satellite model of Irish-medium post-primary provision to be piloted in Dundalk....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Managing ventilation is just one of a suite of public health measures in place to keep our schools safe. Updated guidance for schools on Practical Steps for the Deployment of Good Ventilation Practices in Schools was provided at the end of May following the work of an expert group that carefully considered the role of ventilation in managing COVID-19. A copy of the guidance is published on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The Deputy may be aware that between 2016 and 2020, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) undertook an extensive review of senior cycle programmes and vocational pathways. The NCCA’s Advisory Report on the Senior Cycle has been submitted to my Department for consideration and will be published once that consideration process is complete. I am aware of the desire in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Officials in my Department continue to liaise with officials in Cork City Council in relation to the identification and acquisition of suitable sites for the school in question. A number of site options were identified. Each of these were investigated by my Department in conjunction with officials from Cork City Council. Unfortunately, in the case of all options identified, either the land...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gaeltacht Policy (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: A three-year Research and Evaluation Study is underway to evaluate the impact of the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme and the extent to which participating schools are fulfilling the language-based criteria to strengthen immersion education. A comprehensive Case-Study Report on 12 primary and 7 post-primary schools was published by my Department in September 2021 and is available online...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Under Project Ireland 2040, the education sector will receive a total of approximately €4.4 billion capital investment over the period 2021-2025. This significant investment allows us to move forward with certainty on our ambitious plans and deliver high quality building projects, with a real focus on sustainability, for school communities across Ireland. Budget 2022 progresses the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The development of Relationships and Sexuality Education, Post Primary Junior Cycle'(1998) and 'Resource materials for Relationships and Sexuality Education, Post-Primary Senior Cycle’(1999) was co-ordinated by the RSE Training Support Service for Schools. This service, with responsibility for supporting the implementation of RSE in primary and post-primary schools nationally, was set...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) is the main policy instrument of my Department to tackle educational disadvantage. In the 2021/22 academic year there are 884 schools in the DEIS Programme serving over 186,000 pupils - 687 Primary and 197 Post Primary. This represents approximately 20% of the overall school population. The total Department spend on DEIS in 2021 is over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department has been guided by Public Health as to the mitigation measures needed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our schools. The aim of all of the Covid-19 infection prevention and control measures that have been put in place for schools is to support schools to operate safely and prevent the introduction of Covid-19 and also the onward of transmission of Covid-19 among the school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The approach to supporting schools to operate safely during Covid-19 has been to follow and implement public health advice. Public Health advice remains that asymptomatic children are at low risk for transmission. Schools are controlled settings and the approach to contact tracing is risk-based in relation to the setting, age-group and the existence of other preventive measures. Public Health...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate 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: Education Schemes (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that funding was approved under the Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme to enable the school in question to build a two-classroom SEN base. This project was approved to Tender in August 2021. Subsequent to this approval, the school sought to incorporate a Summers Works Scheme (SWS) project into this tendering process. The school...