Results 3,901-3,920 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 26 — Education (Revised)
Vote 45 — Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (23 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: To clarify, there is consistent and ongoing engagement with all of the partners in education. I have a number of meetings scheduled this week with them but it is very much an ongoing engagement. The Department values the whole partnership approach. I want to be magnanimous in acknowledging the engagement across the board, not only by the teaching unions and managerial bodies but also the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 26 — Education (Revised)
Vote 45 — Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (23 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: I will revert to the Chairman on the specific number but we are very clear that there has been engagement, where required, with public health. The enhanced school teams have engaged with the process. That is confirmed by public health and experts on NPHET. An outbreak refers to two cases. Where outbreaks have been identified, it has been confirmed that the transmissibility and detection...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 26 — Education (Revised)
Vote 45 — Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (23 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: In the first instance, I acknowledge that an enormous body of work has been undertaken by all of society to ensure that our schools, in the midst of level 5 and a lockdown which pertains to virtually all of society at this point, reopened on a cautious and phased basis. An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to all of society for supporting and facilitating that by doing what we all need to...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2021
Vote 26 — Education (Revised)
Vote 45 — Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Revised) (23 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: I thank the Chairman.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: When the revelations of institutional child abuse came to the fore in the 1990s, the State sought to respond by putting in place a number of measures including a National Counselling Service. The National Counselling Service (NCS) has been in existence since 2000.  It is a professional, confidential counselling and psychotherapy service available free of charge in all regions of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board (Caranua) was established in 2013 in accordance with the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 (the 2012 Act). Caranua’s purpose was to disburse the contributions of €110m (€111.38m including interest) provided by the religious congregations following the publication of the Ryan Report in 2009, by funding...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The syllabuses for Leaving Certificate Irish introduced in the 1990s were updated in 2010. Since then there have been significant developments in Irish language curricular provision at primary and junior cycle levels. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) recently opened a public consultation process on draft L1 and L2 specifications for Leaving Certificate Irish. This...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Properties (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The land to which the Deputy refers is in my ownership as Minister for Education. It is planned to retain this land to accommodate any future requirements for education provision in this area.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that following the site visit carried out at the school, my Department is currently formulating the accommodation brief for the proposed building project to cater for the recently amalgamated primary schools in Tuam. This will then facilitate the commencement of the architectural planning process, which will include the appointment of a design...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the building project for the school to which he refers has been devolved for delivery to Galway & Roscommon Education and Training Board (GRETB). The Service Level Agreement (SLA) has been issued to GRETB. The next step is for the ETB to procure a Design Team for the project to design the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 113,100 children, including over 14,500 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. The purpose of my Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The Health Protection Surveillance Centre and HSE has published guidance in relation to the return to school for at risk groups.  The advice confirms that for the vast majority of children, can return to school and it is important for the overall health and wellbeing for children to attend school. This is consistent with public health advice internationally.  The guidance is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The Government has always been guided by public health advice in relation to what is safe in schools. The CMO has made it very clear in his advices to Government which are published on gov.ie, that schools are safe environments, with very little evidence of transmission within schools, and that the majority of infections of children and adolescents occurs outside the school setting. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The general principles to apply to the management of COVID-19 includes the safety and welfare of teachers and other school staff and the minimisation of the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning. The current COVID-19 arrangements in place for teachers are outlined in my Department’s Circular Letter 0049/2020. The HSE has recently published guidance for the education sector...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Discipline (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: Section 7 of the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act 2018 has provided for the replacement of the existing Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 with a series of new sections numbered 29 to 29F. These new appeal provisions in sections 29 to 29F are designed to work alongside the wider admissions framework in the 2018 Act and came into operation from 12 November 2020 onwards. In accordance...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staff (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to inform the Deputy that the upper retirement age for standard accrual members of the Single Pension Scheme is 70 years of age.  Therefore any standard accrual member may continue in pensionable employment until 70 years of age.  Such members are not obliged to retire at the normal retirement age (66 in this case).  Information on the Single Pension Scheme is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: On 22 March, my Department published a Guide to Accredited Grades for Leaving Certificate 2021  for Out-of-School Subjects, and Out-of-School Learners. The guide is available to download on www.gov.ie/leavingcertificate. There are two broad categories of out-of-school candidates for whom some special arrangements are being provided: - students who are enrolled in, and studying in, a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers opened in September of 2020. The contract for the major building project at this school includes works in relation to the clearing and seeding of a green area to the east of the school building. These works will be undertaken in spring 2021 if circumstances, including the weather, permit. However, no provision has been made...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Data (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 113,100 children, including over 14,500 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. The purpose of my Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (24 Mar 2021)

Norma Foley: The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations.  In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.