Results 2,441-2,460 of 3,797 for speaker:Ciarán Cannon

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Eligibility (1 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The purpose of my Department's School Transport Schemes is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school. The Deputy will be aware that from the commencement of the 2012/13 school year, school transport eligibility for post primary pupils is being determined by reference to the distance they reside...

Topical Issue Debate: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (2 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I echo Deputy Nash’s sentiments about the announcement by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, today that he does not intend to remain in his position. It has been a privilege and honour to work beside the Minister over the past three years. He has been exceptionally supportive of the work I do and we have achieved a great deal together in a short time. It was very...

Topical Issue Debate: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (2 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: We are investing over €800 million, which is a very significant amount of money, in further education and training each year. We have put in place a framework to secure the best possible results for the more than 200,000 learners who engage with the system every year. These are all unique individuals with unique personal challenges. They have a diverse set of backgrounds, needs and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Provision (2 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The general approach to the provision of school transport is that application is made on behalf of a child at the commencement of their primary and post primary education cycle. At that point, a decision is made in relation to eligibility. Again, the general approach is that transport is provided to the child's nearest school subject to compliance with the distance criteria. In the case of...

Topical Issue Debate: Education and Training Boards (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and for giving me an opportunity to outline to the House the position regarding the delivery of training in Cavan and Monaghan from 2015 onwards. Through a series of Government decisions, it was decided to replace the 33 vocational education committees with 16 new entities, to be known as education and training boards or ETBs, and to establish SOLAS...

Topical Issue Debate: Education and Training Boards (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I stand over all the points I made yesterday. If the new structures for the delivery of further education and training are to work effectively, they must reflect the needs of learners within a particular region as well as the needs of industry and enterprise within that region. That is why we have given significant autonomy to each ETB to determine the type of training and further education...

Topical Issue Debate: Construction Contracts (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: He is still the Minister for Education and Skills.

Topical Issue Debate: Construction Contracts (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it gives me an opportunity to outline to the House the measures the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, has put in place to ensure companies working on contracts awarded under the Department's schools building programme are compliant with tax and employment laws. In common with the rest of the public sector, all...

Topical Issue Debate: Construction Contracts (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The reason CAS was chosen as the body to carry out these random audits is that it has the expertise, including significant forensic accounting expertise, to determine whether labour law is being complied with on these various sites. So far, CAS has completed 16 random audits on school and college construction sites, with one audit ongoing. As a result of those audits, information in regard...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Eligibility (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: Under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. The child referred to by the Deputy is not attending her nearest school and is therefore not...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Programmes Places (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: This is an operational matter for Dublin and Dun Laoghaire Education and Training Board. Under the legislation providing for the establishment of Education and training Boards (ETBs), they are independent, autonomous entities with resources to deliver educational opportunities within their regions to the highest standard. ETB's are expected to manage their resources to provide the best...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level. My Department publishes annual statistics on class size data for each school....

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Back to School Costs (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I thank the Senator for raising this issue as it affords me an opportunity to outline to the House the position on the cost of school books. The Government shares the concern expressed by him and many parents about the high costs associated with children's attendance in school. In this regard, the Minister for Education and Skills has undertaken a number of initiatives to help to reduce the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Back to School Costs (3 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: We will endeavour to provide that list. Early in the process, when establishing what schools operated schemes, we surveyed the full school system but did not receive a full response. However, we will make whatever information we have available to the Senator in the near future.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Education and Training Boards Places (8 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: VTOS places are alocated to education and training boards ,ETBs, and further distribution of these places to areas under their remit is a matter for each ETB. The movement of VTOS places from Tallaght to Balbriggan was a decision taken by Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB. I understand that this followed the amalgamation of the former Dublin and Dún Laoghaire vocational educational...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Education and Training Boards Places (8 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: The Deputies will recall that during the formation of the legislation underpinning the ETB structure, we all concluded it was an excellent idea to confer on ETBs complete autonomy in distributing and allocating resources within their respective regions. Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB has sanction for 150 VTOS places to distribute as best it can across its region of responsibility. Very...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Education and Training Boards Places (8 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: While I agree that we need additional resources, we do not have them. As our country's economic recovery gets under way we will, hopefully, have those additional resources and be able to pass them on to our ETB structure across the country. For the moment, within the resources available to us and to Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB, we must trust the ETB and respect its autonomy and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Education Policy (8 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I fully recognise the importance of the integrated model of education to which the Deputy referred, and I do not accept the assertion that this model is under threat. The Government's focus in recent years has been on operating a budgetary programme that is designed to restore our finances to a sustainable basis. Although education has been better sheltered than other sectors, it cannot be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Education Policy (8 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: At a time of severe economic challenge, the level of resources devoted to supporting children with special educational needs has been maintained with increases in certain areas for the next school year. This is in response to the demographic growth to which the Deputy referred and the increased demand despite the ongoing and severe financial position. There will be more than 11,000 resource...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Education Policy (8 Jul 2014)

Ciarán Cannon: I wonder sometimes if Deputy Boyd Barrett comes to the Chamber with a particular message to disseminate, chooses not to listen to the responses he receives and then repeats what he has said over and over again notwithstanding assurances given. By the end of this year, we will have the highest number of SNAs ever employed in place in our schools to support children with special needs.