Results 4,361-4,380 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

Other Questions: School Staff (18 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: One of the consequences of the staffing reductions in 2012 has been an increase in the number of one-teacher schools. There were eight such schools in the country in 2008 but thanks to moves by the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government, there are now 24 such schools. It goes without saying that the appointment of a second teacher to a small school or the loss of a school's second teacher is a...

Other Questions: School Staff (18 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: In 2012, the threshold for qualifying for two teachers was 12 pupils but now, unless the nearest school is over 8 km away, the threshold is 19. The particular school to which I refer is already disadvantaged, with 41% of pupils in lone-parent families. In the past, the school would have been entitled to Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, status and the supports that come...

Other Questions: School Staff (18 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: I am glad to hear that the moratorium on DEIS applications is being lifted. The particular school to which I refer expects to have 18 pupils enrolled which is almost over the line for a second teacher. I do not understand how the system works. I know that the staffing schedule circular for 2017-18 is due in mid-January. Will it be announced then as to whether this school will get another...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs (18 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: 40. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the sections of the EPSEN Act 2004, which deal with provisions relating to an individual right to assessment and individual education plans, will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1818/17]

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs (18 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: Thirteen years after the enactment of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, several key provisions of the legislation remain unimplemented. There does not seem to be a clear policy on the entitlement of children with special educational needs to education. As the Minister knows, Ireland has been criticised by international human rights watchdogs, such as the UN...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs (18 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: I accept that there have been increases in the last couple of budgets but the cuts were so severe in the previous ones that it has definitely resulted in some poor outcomes for many children with disabilities. The Minister mentioned individual education plans, which the EPSEN Act called for. Some schools do make them but it is still not a legal requirement as far as I know. The idea is...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs (18 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: At the weekends, I also live close to schools in Wexford and Enniscorthy. They have fought tooth and nail to get a fair deal. The changes are definitely welcome. The Minister referred to resources. Was he suggesting that resources are greater now than in 2012? Will the Minister clarify that point? I wish to draw the attention of the Minister to another point. Many children with special...

Other Questions: Rent Controls (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: 9. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will introduce measures to define market rent; if he has considered taking the example of the mietspiegel arrangement in Germany, whereby local rents are calculated by local government on the basis of square metre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2172/17]

Other Questions: Rent Controls (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: At present, as we all know, market rent is an immeasurable quantity. Has the Minister considered looking at the mietspiegelarrangement in Germany, whereby local rents are calculated by local government on the basis of square metre? It is an index of the rent paid by tenants broken down by size, location, age and standard categories. It means there is a defined market rent by which tenant...

Other Questions: Rent Controls (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: The big problem is that the 4% rate is on top of a rate that is way too high and unaffordable for too many people. It is having a huge impact and the Government is now hearing how it affects the Brexit process. The fact that accommodation is so expensive will stop companies from moving here. One can rent an apartment in any city in Italy for €400 per month and there is no comparison...

Other Questions: Rent Controls (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: We all accept that people having to pay almost 40% of monthly income on renting a roof over their heads is unsustainable in the long term. Rents are so much higher in Ireland than in Europe and it costs so much more to buy that up to 30% of people in the future may need social housing. Deputy Donnelly said we were looking for an incentive for house building to compete with the commercial...

Topical Issue Debate: Cancer Screening Programmes (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: The safety incident management report released today into the discovery of 13 possible missed cancers at Wexford General Hospital is another huge failure on a long and botched list of failures in the Wexford-Waterford HSE area. I would go so far as to say that probably two of the most dysfunctional strands of a malfunctioning national organisation are to be found in the HSE in the south...

Topical Issue Debate: Cancer Screening Programmes (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: It is striking that the issue with Clinician Y's screenings only came to light after two cancer cases were identified externally. Where is the oversight at Wexford General Hospital? Why has it taken more than two years to release the report? Why did it take more than eight months from the time concerns were first raised for 98% of those who needed to be recalled to undergo a second...

Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: I welcome Deputy Pringle's Private Members' Bill. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, has investments in some truly destructive companies, from tobacco companies to mercenary armies and to the worst of the polluters. Although the amounts of money involved are not astronomical, Ireland could show leadership on this issue and follow through on some of the Government's talk about...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Vacant Sites Levy (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: 14. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will bring forward the implementation of the vacant site levy and commence it immediately; if he will raise the vacant site levy to 10%; his views on the recently published vacant sites register for Dublin in which all of the entries were left blank; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2174/17]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Provision (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: 24. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will consider initiating discussions with the Minister for Finance with a view to suspending the proposed NAMA plan to build 20,000 houses by 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2173/17]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Standards (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: 38. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the measures his Department has taken or planned in order to improve the enforcement of standards in the rental sector in response to the National Oversight and Audit Commission's report, Rented House Inspections - a Review of Local Authority Performance of Private Rented Houses Regulations Functions, which was...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: House Sales (19 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: 43. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on the growing proportion of new housing purchases made by investment funds and REITs, and the fact that financial companies now control 90,000 of mortgages and the effects of this on the housing and rental markets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2171/17]

Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: Northern Ireland is facing an election, mainly because of the intransigence of Mrs. Arlene Foster and her refusal to stand down to facilitate an investigation into the cash for ash scandal. I read today that the Taoiseach is about to commence a commission of investigation into certain Garda matters following the O'Neill report. Yesterday, the Garda Commissioner was on the airwaves telling...

Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2017)

Mick Wallace: Only close to it.