Results 2,921-2,940 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (10 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: As of 5thDecember a total of 877 education facilities (primary, post primary and special education facilities) have undergone mass testing following Public Health Risk Assessment. The positivity rate of close contacts testing in educational facilities including primary, post-primary and special educational needs facilities as of this date is 2.3% with 25,679 close contacts tested. This low...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 315 and 334 together. School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 316 and 318 together. Public health specialists working with schools and my Department are closely monitoring the situation in all schools to ensure that where schools are open with appropriate infection prevention and control measures, there is no additional threat to public health. To date the evidence demonstrates that schools are operating safely...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Acts, 1998-2018. On 14th January 2020 a number of sections of the Admission to Schools act were commenced introducing new laws around admission to schools which became operational on 1 February 2020. These provisions...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, the building project for the school in question is included in my Department's capital programme. The acquisition of the permanent site for Malahide Portmarnock ETNS is at a very advanced stage of conveyancing. Once all contractual matters have been finalised the site will be assessed for Architectural Planning. While a site acquisition process is underway, given the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, a new site will be required for a school campus development, in order to cater for the permanent needs of St. Patrick’s National School, Celbridge Community College and St. Raphael’s Special School. The Department is presently at a very advanced stage in the process of acquiring a suitable site, located at Donaghcumper. I can confirm that agreement in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: Regarding the interim accommodation required by the school to which the Deputy refers for the current academic year the planning permission was granted with a number of pre-commemcement conditions and it was not possible for installation to commence until such time as the relevant local authority discharged all of these conditions. The conditions have now been discharged. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, a new site will be required for a school campus development, in order to cater for the permanent needs of St. Patrick’s National School, Celbridge Community College and St. Raphael’s Special School. The Department is presently at a very advanced stage in the process of acquiring a suitable site, located at Donaghcumper. I can confirm that agreement in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, a new site will be required for a school campus development, in order to cater for the permanent needs of St. Patrick’s National School, Celbridge Community College and St. Raphael’s Special School. The Department is presently at a very advanced stage in the process of acquiring a suitable site, located at Donaghcumper. I can confirm that agreement in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: The school referred to by the Deputy opened in 2007 and was located in interim accommodation initially for 6 months. The school subsequently relocated to its current location in Department owned temporary accommodation comprising 16 temporary classrooms. These classrooms are located on the grounds of the local GAA club and rent is paid to the GAA for the use of its grounds. As the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: The school referred to by the Deputy opened in 2015 in an existing school building. In September 2016, the school relocated to a council owned site in temporary accommodation purchased by the Department. The total cost of this accommodation including furniture and equipment/ICT amounted to €3,310,125. In 2018, my Department approved grant for additional rented accommodation at a cost...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 329, 330 and 331 together. I wish to advise the Deputy that in May 2020, my Department gave initial approval to the school in question to acquire 3 temporary classrooms. This project has been devolved to the school for delivery and my Department understands that a decision on the planning permission application is due shortly. When secured and when the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Child Protection (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: The ex gratia scheme, was established on foot of the specific circumstances arising from the O’Keeffe case and in response to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It was established in 2015 to provide an effective remedy for a specific category of people, namely those persons who had commenced domestic litigation but who had discontinued those proceedings...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in that area. Under the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application, for Additional School Accommodation (ASA), from the school authority in question. Officials from my Department have recently corresponded with the school Patron. Upon receipt of the information requested the application will be progressed and the decision will issue to the school authority directly.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Administrative Arrangements (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: The majority of staff of the Payroll Division of my Department have been working remotely since March in accordance with Government guidelines. There are 130,000 payees paid on the payrolls operated by these staff on a fortnightly basis. The first priority during the Covid 19 pandemic has been to ensure that all staff paid on these payrolls continued to be paid on time. This posed major...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is committed to providing a permanent accommodation solution for the school referred to. In this regard, a suitable site in Castleblayney to accommodate the permanent school building has been identified. The acquisition of this site has progressed well in recent weeks and is at a very advanced stage of conveyancing. Once this acquisition process...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: A building project to provide a new school building for the school to which the Deputy refers is included in the Department’s school building programme and a site is required for this purpose. My Department is presently at a very advanced stage in the process of acquiring a suitable site. When this has been acquired, my Department will look to finalise the accommodation brief for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (15 Dec 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the current school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, are transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over...