Results 3,701-3,720 of 8,015 for speaker:Jonathan O'Brien

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: I do not agree, based on the fact that legislation should constantly be reviewed, that this always happens. That is clearly not the case, as we have seen in the case of many pieces of legislation. We need only look at the position of the Clerys workers to identify the inadequacies of that legislation. Given the concerns raised and that we are talking about the teaching profession, it would...

Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members] (17 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: We will be supporting this legislation. It is long overdue to say the least. It has been debated ever since I was elected here in 2011. I published a Bill in respect of repealing the discriminatory nature of that legislation. The Labour Party and Fianna Fáil published Bills relating to it. Members of the Technical Group have also published a Bill on it. I do not know if it was in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (17 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 190. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the average primary school class size for the 2014 / 2015 school year. [23966/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (17 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 191. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current pupil teacher ratio; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23967/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (17 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 192. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary school children who were in classes of 30 or more during the 2014-2015 school year, by county. [23968/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (17 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 194. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the time frame it would take and cost to reduce pupil-teacher ratios to 20:1, at the rate of reducing class sizes by one pupil per year, taking into account growing number of students in the next few years. [23983/15]

Order of Business (18 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: I concur with Deputy Cowen-----

Topical Issue Debate: Postal Services (23 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, for attending to take this Topical Issue, which is one that has been raised with me by postmasters in my constituency in recent weeks. I am sure that postmasters have been contacting Deputies in other constituencies about it as well. It relates to the revised application form for pensions that was sent out by the Department of Social...

Topical Issue Debate: Postal Services (23 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for his reply and welcome his statement that the wording of the application form will be changed as soon as possible so as to provide a neutral option. One of the postmasters' criticisms related to how the new form recommended financial institutions as the preferred option. I understand that some people may want to receive their payments electronically via...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Guidance Counsellors (23 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 519. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 190, 239, and 243 of 14 February 2012, the resource that was used to state 42% of schools did not have a full-time guidance counsellor at that time; and the percentage of schools that do not have a full-time guidance counsellor at present broken down by fee-paying and non-fee-paying schools. [24519/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Administration (23 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 535. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide a complete update, including funding allocation, identification of a location, and timeframes, in relation to the provision of permanent school buildings for primary and post-primary Educate Together schools in Stepaside in Dublin 18. [24624/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Data (23 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 557. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide, in tabular form, the number of teachers in the primary school sector who are teaching in a multi-grade setting and who are teaching classes containing three grades; four grades; and more than five grades. [24961/15]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: State Examinations Commission: Engagement with Chair-Designate. (24 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: I thank Mr. Burke for appearing before the joint committee. I want to touch on two issues. I will come back to the issue of reasonable accommodation which has been mentioned by Deputy Charlie McConalogue. Is there any move to introduce an online system of paying examination fees to the State Examinations Commission? I understand the fees have to be paid in a bank. One cannot even pay...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Primary Online Database (30 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 101. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the administration of her Department’s primary online database project, involving the collection and storage of information on children in the primary school system, including her plans to defund schools if they do not co-operate with the project, and her consultation with parents on information that is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Funding (30 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 104. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider ring-fencing the current capitation grant rates for primary schools and introducing a supplementary system whereby schools may apply for additional capitation funding based on the condition of the school and other needs in order to introduce a fairer scheme and to address the higher expenditure older schools incur. [25913/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Institutes of Technology Staff (30 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 115. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the practice within some institutes of technology of appointing chaplains, and using public funds to do so without advertising, tendering or following public procurement or public appointment guidelines; the public funding that was used to pay for chaplain roles in 2012-13 and in 2013-14; and her plans to rectify this. [25734/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Expenditure (30 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 129. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of a policy paper recently launched by Barnardos calling for an additional €103 million in education funding to provide a truly free primary education system; and her plans to move towards a primary schools system where parents do not pay towards books or transport. [25737/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Institutes of Technology (30 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 131. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the results of a survey of academics in institutes of technology commissioned by the Irish Federation of University Teachers and the Teachers' Union of Ireland that shows that lecturers are spending time on language and writing skills with students to the detriment of actual teaching time and that many international students...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Data Protection (30 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 141. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of an incident in a County Limerick school where it has emerged that hidden cameras were placed inside the school without the knowledge of staff, parents or pupils; and if the Data Protection Commissioner is investigating this matter. [25735/15]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Facilities (30 Jun 2015)

Jonathan O'Brien: 143. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware two students with disabilities at Saint Angela’s College in County Sligo are unable to visit the canteen because of accessibility issues. [25736/15]