Results 23,361-23,380 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: Under Section 21(2) of the Student Support Act 2011 an applicant has 30 days, from the date of the Appeals Officer's decision in the awarding authority, to submit their appeal to the Student Grants Appeals Board.  Under Section 21(3) of the Act, the Appeals Board may extend this period by a further 30 days, if it is satisfied that the applicant has given reasonable cause to so extend. As...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff Data (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Disability Act 2005 requires public bodies to promote and support the employment of people with disabilities and to achieve a target of 3% of staff with disabilities. In this Department in 2016 the percentage of employees with a disability under the definition of the Disability Act 2005 was 3.94% (head count) and 3.78% (whole time equivalent). Under the comprehensive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, a building project for the school to which he refers is included in my Department's 6 Year Construction Programme.  In the context of progressing the building project, my Department has undertaken a site visit to the school. The schedule of accommodation is currently being devised and will be provided to the patron, Kildare Wicklow Education Training...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Eligibility (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: We have, for the first time, introduced an objective, statistics based model for deciding which schools merit inclusion in the DEIS Programme, so that all stakeholders can have confidence that we are targeting extra resources at those schools with the highest concentrated levels of disadvantage. The methodology adopted to assess levels of disadvantage in schools is based on centrally held...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Speech and Language Therapy Provision (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Programme for a Partnership Government states that a new model of In-School Speech and Language Therapy will be established.  In October of this year, Budget 2018 provided an additional €2M to introduce a pilot/demonstration project for in-school Therapy services in 2018. The demonstration project will develop and test a model for the delivery of in school speech and language...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Contractors (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved for delivery to the local Education and Training Board (ETB). The project has been tendered and the ETB recently submitted the Tender Report.  This Report is currently being evaluated by my Department. Once the Tender Report has been evaluated, and assuming that there are no issues with it, the project will be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The major building project for the school to which the Deputy refers is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2b – Detailed Design, which includes the applications for Planning Permission, Fire Cert and Disability Access Cert and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been obtained. A letter recently issued to the school and the Design...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I thank the committee for taking the Estimates. We are in a period where we are seeking to rebuild in education after a very difficult time, which we all acknowledge. We are in a position to expand the number of teachers we are employing and in the past two years we have seen approximately 5,000 extra teachers deployed. In particular we have looked at areas like special education, and we...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: Deputy Thomas Byrne acknowledged the progress we have made in areas such as the pupil-teacher ratio, guidance and resource teaching, for which he is a strong advocate. These improvements have been significant and I welcome the Deputy's support for them. The Deputy also raised the issue of newly qualified teachers. Negotiations with teachers, which took place within three months of my...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked to what the figure of €236 million relates. It covers pay restoration, not only for new entrants but also other elements. I pay tribute to Deputy Jan O'Sullivan for the work she did when she was Minister for Education and Skills. During her term, she implemented a pilot programme and gained acceptance for the new approach, which I fully support. The...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: Both sides have to enter into negotiations on the pay issue in good faith. I am not going to seek to represent a certain view. This issue exists across the public service and is not confined to teachers, nurses or any other group. The public service pay agreement that provided for €900 million was negotiated with the trade unions, which did not prioritise new entrant pay for that-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I am not blaming the unions. The position of new entrants was not prioritised in the settlement.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: Provision was made for this to be discussed through a process and that process has already started. A cost has been indicated. The Government has indicated that it will start negotiations on foot of that report. That is the current situation. I have to say that all of these pay cuts happened before I became Minister for Education and Skills. Indeed, some of them were initiated when...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: There are collective agreements. We committed to a system of collective agreement within the public service. That means the trade unions negotiate for the entire public service, right across every branch. We do not have separate negotiations for some parts of the public service because they are intricately related. We cannot give increases in one area without recognising the knock-on...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I will try to get the figures. Traditionally, apprenticeships were in male-dominated areas. As members are aware, they were mechanics, engineers, electricians, plumbers and so on. What we are doing now is developing an entirely new suite of apprenticeships. The 27 traditional ones are there still and we are seeking to develop over 50 news ones. They are at various stages of development...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: It did not, until this specific provision, but from 2018 to 2021 a specific element is being introduced. I think it is combined with higher and further education and it is under the NTF. There will be a specific provision. It is €70 million over the coming years. Previously it had been running at a very low level and it was not shown separately in the Estimates.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: It is under the capital head.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: At the moment it is in the SOLAS capital.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: It is.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (28 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: As part of the mid-term review of the national development plan, a provision of an additional €50 million was made for further education from 2019 to 2021. That is a commitment of additional funding. In the national development plan, the overall envelope for the ten years is €300 million. Provision has been made under the Department's capital plan. The allocation of this...