Results 4,641-4,660 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 260 and 261 together. The information regarding the number of special education teachers for County Kildare in the years 2002 to 2005 is not readily available within my Department. I can confirm, however, that at primary level there are now approximately 5,000 teachers in our primary schools working directly with children with special needs, including those...

Written Answers — Schools Recognition: Schools Recognition (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: : The school to which the Deputy refers opened with provisional recognition from my Department in September 2004. The school is required to complete a minimum period of three years in this mode, during which time it must demonstrate its viability and that it is operating in accordance with the rules and programme for secondary schools. The matter of permanent recognition can be considered...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: A total of 33 schools in County Kildare have applied for funding under the summer works scheme for 2006. All applications are currently being assessed and a list of successful applicants will be published when the assessment process has been completed.

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Appointments to posts of the kind indicated are a matter for the vocational education committee as the employer. My Department prescribes qualifications for appointment but does not sanction individual appointments. It is open to interested parties who are dissatisfied with such an appointment to present a complaint to the VEC. If no satisfaction is obtained, the matter may be brought to my...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The person is question gave four years and 21 days of pensionable service as a primary teacher between September 1981 and 13 March 1987. The teacher also gave some intermittent service as a substitute teacher between 1986 and 1990 but substitute service was at that time not reckonable for pension purposes. As matters stand, the person in question does not retain any entitlement to pension and...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning. The school in question was listed in my announcement of April this year as a project to progress through architectural planning up to pre-tender stage, that is, up to and including advanced architectural planning. My Department's officials are in the process of examining a recently...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department has received correspondence from the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland seeking approval for the inclusion of the winter streams of the professional practice course 1 under the higher education grant scheme for 2005 and 2006. The application for course approval is currently under active consideration within my Department.

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: In accordance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, individual school authorities are responsible in the first instance for ensuring the safety and welfare of children and others in their care. Provision is built into the annual school building programme to enable schools to address urgent health and safety issues as identified by the school authority by way of an annual...

Written Answers — Third Level Fees: Third Level Fees (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The criteria for eligibility for the free fees initiative includes the provision that students who have pursued a course of third level study which has attracted Exchequer funding, for example, free fees, and who have not secured a terminal qualification and subsequently resume third level studies are not eligible for free fees for the equivalent period of time spent on the first course. The...

Written Answers — State Examinations: State Examinations (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 270 and 272 together. Irish is examined at higher, ordinary and foundation levels in the leaving certificate examination. All candidates take an oral examination where the productive skills of the candidate in spoken Irish are tested in an interview format. They also take an aural test where a candidate listens to a recording of native speakers representing...

Written Answers — Teacher Training: Teacher Training (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: There are three different methods of providing funding to the five colleges of education, reflecting the historical context within which the colleges were established and developed over time. Coláiste Mhuire Marino and the Froebel College of Education are funded on a capitation basis with funding linked to a payment per student registered in these colleges which is certified by the college...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (30 Nov 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The position is that the number of student or lecture contact hours in the colleges of education, on average, amounts to 1,650. I would like to inform the Deputy that the existing pre-service teacher training programmes provided by the colleges of education include specific elements aimed at enabling all primary teachers to recognise and deal appropriately with the particular needs of all...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The higher education grants scheme operates under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts 1968 to 1992. These Acts define a mature student to mean a person of not less than 23 years of age, or such other age as may stand specified for the time being in regulations made by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, who have secured places in approved institutions...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The Deputy should be aware that significant improvements have been made in the pupil-teacher ratio and in average class size in recent years at primary level. The most recent figure available for average class size at primary level refers to the 2003-04 school year, when the average class size was 23.9, down from 26.6 in 1996-97. The pupil teacher ratio at primary level, which includes all...

Written Answers — School Services Staff: School Services Staff (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Funding arrangements for voluntary secondary schools are structured mainly on the basis of capitation grants with additional grants for support services such as care-taking. This provides schools with considerable flexibility as to the manner in which such services are provided to cater for the needs of their pupils. Caretakers employed by schools are employees of the individual schools and...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: As I advised the Deputy in response to a parliamentary question, reference No. 32540/05, of 8 November 2005, my Department has recently conveyed its decision in this case to the relevant transport liaison officer. Under the terms of the post-primary school transport scheme, routes are planned so that, in general, no pupil will have more than 3.2 kilometres to travel to a pick-up point....

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: A project for the provision of a physical education hall at Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Blarney was progressed through the early stages of architectural planning during the late 1990s. I expect that this is the project to which the Deputy is referring. Due to financial constraints and competing demands the project was not progressed at that time. Since 2003 my Department has published details of...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Home tuition is primarily intended to provide compensatory instruction for pupils with a medical ailment that is likely to cause major disruption to their attendance at school on a continuing basis. In recent years home tuition has been extended as an interim support for children with a significant special educational need pending the provision of an appropriate school based educational...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The school planning section of my Department recently received an application for major capital funding from the school to which the Deputy refers. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale projects. Progress on the proposed works is being considered in the context of the school building and modernisation programme from 2006 onwards.

Written Answers — Residential Institutions Redress Scheme: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (1 Dec 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 provides a statutory scheme of financial redress for persons who, as children, were abused while in residential institutional care. The scheme applies in respect of institutions specified in the Schedule to the Act. Section 4 of the Act provides that the Minister for Education and Science may, by order, provide for the insertion in the Schedule of...