Results 4,621-4,640 of 6,188 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (6 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 304. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the reason for the delay in processing an application for the operation of a school (details supplied). [49281/22]

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It is now nine months since the pandemic bonus for front-line workers was announced. HSE workers were paid quite quickly after that but there are other workers across the State and in every community in Ireland, who would have worked extremely hard during that period and exposed themselves to Covid, whether they were in the fire service, cleaners in our hospitals and healthcare providers,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I believe Senator Mullen is ahead of me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I had my homework done for once. My first question seeks to build on what was said by Deputy O'Callaghan. I agree in principle with the idea of students being assessed in fifth yea,r but some reservations have been expressed about the modality of the approach that has been taken regarding paper 1. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to provide a comprehensive policy for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Where does the approach that has been taken to paper 1 fit with the commitment to draft a comprehensive policy that covers early years to third level? What is the Minister doing about the comprehensive policy and when will we see it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: That is a much more satisfactory answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Will there be a public consultation on the comprehensive all-inclusive strategy within the next month?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Very good.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I want to discuss the Cork Life Centre. Did the Department was approached by the centre in the context of correcting some statistics contained in the review that were believed to be erroneous? Is it true that the Department accepted the centre's view and has corrected those statistics in the report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Does that include the number of people who were in a position to sit the leaving certificate?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Am I correct in saying that the conclusions contained in the report were not amended, despite the fact that the evidence upon which they were based was considerably different?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The review has some shortcomings. It is strange to have an out-of-school review that did not take into account Youthreach given that it is the largest element of what we typically associate with being the non-traditional school sector. Is it true that among the out-of-school education providers, which were part of the review, several have full-time teachers working full-time hours?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I take the Minister's reply to mean yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes, and that is why there was a review.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Am I correct in saying that the staff in the life centre are on co-operation hours?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: That is welcome. In terms of how we get to where we need to go regarding the life centre and the stability that is required, progress is welcome. However, it is not the final outcome. Can the Minister confirm that co-operation hours are not tied to increments?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Can a person gather increments toward his or her pension or salary over the course of several years? Can a person's pay increase on an incremental scale while on co-operation hours?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Very well. That is a key matter. The funding is welcome. Co-operation hours do provide a service. Ultimately, however, anyone teaching in an institution like the centre - and a person may view teaching as a vocation and be very committed to the institution - is entitled to consider what that to which I refer is going to mean for them and their pension in the long term. Institutions like...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Yes, I acknowledge that co-operation hours are common across a whole variety of these organisations but, typically, they complement full-time or at least full-time Department-funded staff. That is not what is being done in the life centre at this point in time and the situation is quite different.