Results 3,261-3,280 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The tender for the new community school in Dingle has been approved by my Department and a letter of intent has been issued to the contractor. Work on the new building is expected to commence shortly.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department has identified a suitable site for the school referred to in the question. However, legal matters regarding title to the site in question need to be addressed by the local authority before the purchase of the site can be progressed further.

Written Answers — Juvenile Detention Centres: Juvenile Detention Centres (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: There are four children detention schools under the aegis of my Department in the Dublin area, providing residential services for children generally up to age 16 years, who have been convicted of an offence or placed on remand by a Court. The four Dublin schools currently provide 74 places. Table 1 details the number of residential places provided in the ten year period from 1996 to 2005. The...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: It is a matter for the independent board of inquiry commissioned by Bus Éireann to investigate the County Meath school bus crash to determine the timeframe for completion of its investigation. I am not aware that any decision has been taken regarding the publication of the investigation report. Current progress on the other investigations referred to by the Deputy and the publication of...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1097, 1139 and 1205 together. Catchment boundaries have their origins in the establishment of free post-primary education in the late 1960s. For planning purposes, the country was divided into geographic districts, each with several primary schools feeding into a post-primary centre with one or more post-primary schools. The intention was that these defined...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Question Nos. 1098 and 1167 together. The school planning section of my Department is in receipt of an application for major capital funding from the management authority of the school to which the Deputy refers. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale projects. Progress on the proposed works is being...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: It is difficult to give a precise answer to the Deputy's question for a number of reasons. In the first instance, a large number of families do not submit remittances until very shortly before, or even after the new school year is under way, and this has been the case this year. In addition, a large number of new applications on behalf of eligible children, catchment boundary children and...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: In the case of a new primary school, the enrolment required for the appointment of the first mainstream class teacher in the first year of operation is 20 pupils. This enrolment must be achieved by 30 September. The school referred to by the Deputy is a new school which opened in September 2005. The board of management of the school has projected an enrolment of 20 pupils on 30 September 2005...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The school planning section of my Department does not have an active application for additional classrooms from the school to which the Deputy refers. However, it is understood that an extension comprising classrooms was recently built at the school which is a private, fee paying facility.

Written Answers — Languages Programme: Languages Programme (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The review of circular 12/96 is ongoing. It is expected that the review will be completed and a revised circular issued to schools in the current school term.

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I am aware of the case referred to by the Deputy concerning the allocation of a resource teacher for Travellers post for pupils in the school in question. The school in question has the services of a shared RTT post which is currently based in another school in the area. My Department's inspectorate has recently reviewed the needs of all Traveller pupils in the area concerned and has...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The work of the HEA, National Office for Equity of Access to Higher Education is directed towards facilitating increasingly inclusive and equitable access to higher education from amongst under-represented groups in the sector, including persons with a disability. This work includes managing the access strand of the HEA strategic initiative fund which has supported the development of core...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department reviewed the file on the child concerned in the last school year and based on the documentation submitted to my Department it was determined that the child concerned falls into the high incidence disability category. As the Deputy is aware, a new general allocation system has been announced under which schools have been provided with resource teaching hours, based on their...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1106 and 1117 together. Bus Éireann administers the school transport scheme, including the planning of bus routes, on behalf of my Department. In general, Bus Éireann plans routes in such a way as to ensure that, as far as possible, no eligible child will have more than 2.4 kilometres to travel to a pick-up-point. Pupils living off the route of a service are...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1107 and 1131 together. I understand the family referred to by the Deputy reside 5.4 miles from Drumslide national school and that there is no service operating to that school from their area. I further understand that the pupil concerned previously attended Shranamonragh national school and after the closure of this school in June moved to Drumslide national...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Under the terms of my Department's school transport scheme, transport may be provided in respect of catchment boundary pupils, subject to there being room available on a service after all fully eligible children have been accommodated, and provided there is no additional cost involved by way of extending a service, or introducing a larger bus. My Department recently received a report from the...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The fund for students with disabilities, which is ESF-aided, was introduced in 1994. It provides funding to students with disabilities attending courses in third level institutions and, since 1998, in post-leaving certificate centres. This fund is administered by the National Office for Equity of Access to Higher Education. The purpose of the fund is to provide students with serious physical...

Written Answers — Teaching Qualifications: Teaching Qualifications (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The Registration Council is the statutory body responsible for the recognition of qualifications for the purposes of post-primary teaching here. The council stipulates that to be eligible for recognition as a post-primary teacher, a person must hold: a suitable degree or equivalent award, not including a training-in-teaching qualification, but with recognised post-primary subject(s) taken as...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The assessment of means for all applicants under my Department's third level student maintenance grant schemes is based on gross income from all sources in the immediately preceding tax-year, with specified social welfare and health board payments being excluded from the calculation. The general position in regard to once-off payments is that part or all, as the case may be, of the payment...

Written Answers — Modern Language Teaching: Modern Language Teaching (28 Sep 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department launched a pilot project for modern languages in primary schools in September 1998. The aims of the pilot project included the development of communication skills in four target languages which are French, German, Spanish and Italian, the fostering of positive attitudes to language learning and the diversification of the languages taught in schools. To achieve these aims in the...