Results 4,621-4,640 of 8,873 for speaker:Batt O'Keeffe

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The decision to approve job-sharing and career break applications is a matter for the authorities of the employing school. In the case of schools that have over-quota teachers, vacancies do not arise as a result of teachers approved for job-sharing or career break. This position is no different from that pertaining in previous years. In these schools that have over-quota teachers,...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The terms of the career break and job sharing schemes for teachers remain unchanged. The decision to approve an application under either of these schemes is a matter for the authorities of the employing school. In schools that have over-quota teachers, applications for job-sharing and a career break may be considered by the authorities of the schools concerned in the normal way. Because the...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: As regards Civil Servants working in my Department all starting pay on promotion/appointment are subject to the relevant Department of Finance circulars and applicable salary scales which take on board benchmarking recommendations and recommendations from the Review Body on Higher Remuneration. I can confirm that there are no Civil Servants with personal rates in excess of recommended...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: As part of the expansion of the Small Schools Scheme, a grant was sanctioned to enable the school in question to extend and modernise the existing school building. My Department approved a further grant in December 2008 to cover additional costs associated with the installation of a waste water treatment system and extra ground works. Applications submitted for the deferred Summer Works...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: Teacher allocations to all VEC schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. In accordance with these rules each VEC is required to organise its subject options within the limit of its approved teacher allocation. The deployment of teaching staff, the range of subjects offered and ultimately the quality of...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Deputy will appreciate that due to commercial sensitivities in relation to site acquisitions generally my Department is not in a position to provide costings associated with specific sites.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: As part of the expansion of the Small Schools Scheme a grant was allocated to this school to enable the management authority to build a new three classroom school. Additional funding was subsequently provided for unavoidable extra costs relating to planning conditions and ground works and to provide a fourth classroom. The school has now applied for a further increase in funding under the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (19 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 277 to 283, inclusive, together. The stages of architectural planning referred to by the Deputy arise from my Department's design team procedures for the procurement of major capital projects. These are necessary to comply with Department of Finance guidelines which require that capital projects be fully designed prior to going to tender. They also ensure...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: My Department holds data on temporary accommodation on a county basis rather than on an individual area basis. I attach for the Deputy's information details held by this Department of the schools in Cork City and County renting prefabricated units in the attached tabular statement. The average annual rental cost per prefab unit in Cork City and County area is €14,022. As the Deputy will...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: Currently in my Department's school building and modernisation programme, there are 74 projects at stage 3 (55 at primary and 19 at post primary level) which have been approved to proceed to tender and construction but are not yet on site. These projects include the 10 which I announced in January of this year and the 43 which I announced earlier this month. There are currently 28 projects...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 445 and 446 together. The information sought by the Deputy is given in the attached tabular statement. These details relate to all prefabricated units used by the schools for a variety of purposes in addition to housing mainstream classes such as use as resource rooms and for storage. The information was obtained following a survey of over 900 schools across...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The decision on eligibility for student maintenance grants is a matter for the relevant assessing authority, either the local authority or VEC, as appropriate. These bodies do not refer individual applications to my Department, except in exceptional circumstances. In order to establish the candidate's status as an independent mature student, documentary evidence is required as proof of a...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 448, 456, 459, 470, 486, 489, 502, 503 and 505 together. The Deputies will be aware that all primary schools have been allocated additional teaching resources to enable them support pupils with high incidence special educational needs including mild general learning disability (MGLD). All primary schools were given these additional teaching resources under...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: As the Deputy will be aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special needs. Applications for SNAs may be considered by the NCSE where a pupil has a significant medical need for such...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The position is that discussions are in train with the trustees and the administrators of the five older universities, including the one in question, and certain non-commercial semi-State bodies with a view to providing consistency and clarity for the future in terms of meeting the liabilities of the funded pension schemes. In that context, and provided all the schemes concerned agree, it is...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The information sought by the Deputy in respect of counties Wexford, Dublin and Wicklow are given in the attached tabular statements. The details include major building projects either on site or approved to progress to tender and construction in 2009 where expenditure is expected in the current year and smaller projects approved for funding under the emergency works scheme so far this year....

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The 2009 Budget required difficult choices to be made across all areas of public expenditure. These decisions were made to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run. In this respect Education while protected to a much greater extent than most other areas of public expenditure could not be totally spared. The various impacts at school level were included in the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The information regarding the number of second level teachers on fixed term contracts as requested by the Deputy is being compiled and will be forwarded to her. Teacher allocations to second level schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill vacancies in an...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: The second Schools PPP bundle, which consists of six schools including a new community college in Bantry, Co. Cork, was handed over to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) in May 2008. The NDFA advertised the bundle in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEC) on 20th May 2008. This tender competition is being procured using the competitive dialogue procedure as provided...

Written Answers — Teachers' Remuneration: Teachers' Remuneration (24 Feb 2009)

Batt O'Keeffe: In the context of the implementation of the recommendations of Report No. 42 of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector, my Department sought details of remuneration being paid to senior staff from all relevant institutions. Details supplied by Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in June 2008 included allowances to certain senior staff which had not been sanctioned. My Department...