Results 481-500 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (13 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The pupil in question is currently in receipt of five hours resource teaching per week together with special needs assistant support in the school referred to by the Deputy. I understand that he is awaiting a placement in a special class for pupils with autism in the area. There are currently ten special classes for children with autistic spectrum disorder operating in primary schools in the...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (13 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The staffing of a primary school is determined by reference to the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous year. The number of mainstream posts sanctioned is determined by reference to a staffing schedule and is finalised for a particular year following discussions with the education partners. The mainstream staffing of the school referred to by the Deputy for the current...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (13 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy will be aware that a total of five hours resource teaching support and a full-time special needs assistant was sanctioned for the pupil in question and has been in place since the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year. This is the maximum level of resource teaching available under my Department's circular. The Deputy may be interested to know that my Department is at present...

Written Answers — Educational Projects: Educational Projects (13 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: I have received the report of the review of the operation of the Finglas child and adolescent centre. As the Deputy is aware, this review was commissioned in March 2004 in the light of concerns raised about the operation of the centre by key stakeholders both internal and external to the centre. The review was undertaken by Mr. Michael Donnellan, director of Trinity House school, and its...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (13 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The school in question is a special school for pupils with a moderate general learning disability. Such schools generally operate at a ratio of one special needs assistant, or SNA, per two class groups of eight pupils each. The school currently has 18 SNAs caring for 86 pupils. My Department considers that the staffing complement is adequate to cater for the number of pupils attending the...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (13 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The application referred to by the Deputy has been reviewed by my Department. The position is that my Department considers that satisfactory education facilities exist in the State to meet the person's educational needs. In the circumstances, funding will not be made available by my Department for the person in question to attend school abroad.

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (13 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: A report on this case has been requested from Bus Éireann. The Deputy will be advised of the position as soon as the report has been received and assessed.

Special Educational Needs. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: My Department received more than 8,400 applications for special education resources since February 2003. The batch of approximately 5,000 applications received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 is being considered at present. Priority was given to almost 1,000 cases involving children starting school last September and all those cases were responded to at or before the commencement of...

Special Educational Needs. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The 4,000 applications are being considered in the context of the assignment of resources to particular schools. They are part of the assessment of what is available and of what is needed in the schools. We hope to be in a position before the end of this school year to allocate resources on that basis. The practice in regard to smaller schools is that those schools are clustered for resource...

School Enrolment. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: I am deeply concerned about the situation in Limerick city at present where a substantial number of pupils, mainly boys from disadvantaged areas of the city, who were refused enrolment in the school of their first choice, are still experiencing difficulty in finding school places. I met community and school representatives in Limerick city in early April and was briefed on the situation....

School Enrolment. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: My responsibility as Minister for Education and Science is to ensure there are sufficient places within catchment boundaries to meet the needs of the pupils in that area. It is a general obligation, not a specific one. The irony of the situation in Limerick is that there are sufficient places to cater for the pupils in the area. The reason I intend to call the groups and individuals in...

School Enrolment. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: When one does not have directive powers and each school is, in many respects, a law unto itself, albeit working within the——

School Enrolment. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: Yes, I can make regulations but we cannot direct individual schools to take individual pupils except through section 29. However, I agree with the Deputy that this situation should not arise. In certain instances people may want their children to go to certain schools and we cannot facilitate that. I take the Deputy's point, in so far as there are places available, no school should be in a...

Residential Institutions Redress Scheme. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The Residential Institutions Redress Act was enacted on 10 April 2002. It provided for the establishment of the Residential Institutions Redress Board to provide a mechanism to make financial awards to victims of abuse to assist them in their recovery and enhance the quality of the remainder of their lives. It also provided an alternative to their having to pursue traumatic civil court cases...

Residential Institutions Redress Scheme. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: As the Deputy knows, Judge Ryan and Judge Laffoy have made reports. The Attorney General made a report on the process and made various recommendations, many of which are being introduced and will be put into legislation at the appropriate time, depending on what I might call the Christian Brothers' case. In determining the level of awards, the commission must operate on the basis of the...

Education Schemes. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: I recognise that high quality early education prior to entry into formal schooling can lead to lasting social benefits that persist throughout life both for the individual and for society. Research also indicates that early childhood education is particularly beneficial for children who are disadvantaged or who have special needs. Parents too can benefit significantly from involvement in...

Education Schemes. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The area of pre-school and early learning will have a priority in the new disadvantage programme we put in place. I agree that the earlier we intervene on behalf of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, the better it is for the children, as proven by some stark facts and figures. The Deputy asked whether I thought the early start programme should be extended. I would not go that far at...

Education Schemes. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The short answer to that is "Yes". It may be extremely important. Until now, the Department has not been actively engaged in the pre-school area. While there has been a demarcation issue with other Departments, part of our focus will be to try to advance our remit and extend education from birth to 18 years.

Higher Education. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: While it was originally expected that the review group would report to the Higher Education Authority not later than 31 October 2003, the authority has advised my Department that the task was more complex than expected. The group has completed a great deal of work and its efforts are at an advanced stage. It is the intention of the group to submit a report to the HEA next month at which time...

Higher Education. (18 May 2004)

Noel Dempsey: While I sympathise with the Deputy, I assure him that the case he has made for Tallaght has been made for every other third level institution. Every one has some ten different priorities. The Deputy will appreciate, given the limited resources available, that it can never be easy to make decisions in this area. For that reason, I decided to try to bring some order to the third level sector....