Results 5,821-5,840 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: The amendments are technical and consequential amendments arising from amendment No. 16. Amendment No. 16 substitutes the existing section 33 of the 2001 Act, which relates to renewal of registration. The Bill as initiated made a number of amendments to section 33 of the 2001 Act. Further amendments to section 33 were made on both Dáil Committee Stage, Seanad Committee Stage and on...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: The purpose of this provision is to enable the Teaching Council, where it has received a vetting disclosure in respect of a registered teacher for the purposes of the renewal of his or her registration and information in that disclosure gives rise to a bona fide child protection concern, to provide that information to the employer of the teacher, where that employer is known to the council....

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: The purpose of this provision is to provide for non-compliance with an undertaking given by a registered teacher following an inquiry by the disciplinary committee under section 43 of the Act, as an additional reason for complaint under section 42, inquiry by investigating committee. If a teacher has agreed to measures as part of an inquiry it makes sense that non-compliance with the...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: Section 16 of the Bill amends section 42 of the 2001 Act. That section sets out the grounds on which complaints about registered teachers may be made and the role and processes to be followed by the director and the investigating committee in respect of such complaints. Subsection (1D) of section 42 as amended by the Bill provides that the council may make a complaint to the investigating...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: Amendment No. 35 is a technical amendment required on foot of amendments on Dáil Committee Stage to take account of changes in terminology. In this regard, the Bill refers to a "complaint" under section 42 whereas the 2001 Act referred to an "application" or "appeal". It also deletes the provision at section 42(5)(b)(iii) of the Act that the investigating committee shall refuse to...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: This is largely a technical amendment to transfer the provisions in subsections (1) to (6), inclusive, from Schedule 3 to the 2001 Act, as amended by the Bill, into a new section 43A. The new section 43A separately sets outs the relevant provisions of the Bill relating to the use and assessment of vetting disclosure by a panel undertaking an inquiry under section 43. In addition to the...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: This amendment provides that a person commits an offence in the course of an inquiry when he or she fails to attend having been summoned, refuses to take an oath, refuses to produce any document in his or her power or control lawfully required by the panel or refuses to answer a question. In addition, it is an offence if a person does anything which, if the panel were a court of law, would...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: This amendment provides that where a complaint is withdrawn by the complainant while it is being considered by the investigating committee or where it has progressed to a panel inquiry, the committee or the panel may, with the agreement of the council, decide either that no further action is to be taken or proceed as if the complaint had not been withdrawn. This is to prevent a situation...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: I have already outlined amendment No. 41 which provides, inter alia, that a panel may request a teacher to give certain undertakings or consent to certain measures. Amendment No. 50 is necessary to provide that in such circumstances the panel will make a decision to confirm these measures. Amendment No. 53 ensures such decisions which are arrived at on foot of voluntary agreement by the...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: This is an additional amendment to section 44(3) of the principal Act which deals with the removal, suspension or retention of a teacher on the register following an inquiry. The amendment provides that measures entered into by a teacher voluntarily are not appealable to the High Court. It deletes the words “of the Disciplinary Committee” from the phrase “vary the...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: Amendment No. 54 inserts a new section into the Act and provides that, where it comes to the Teaching Council’s attention that a decision to sanction a registered teacher has been made in another state, the council will, as soon as practicable, inform the Minister and the teacher’s employer, where relevant. The amendment further provides for the Teaching Council, where it has...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: Section 46B was introduced as an amendment on Committee Stage in the Seanad to provide for the publication of certain information on the outcomes of fitness to teach inquiries. It was further amended on Report Stage in the Seanad to set out in a clearer manner the provisions in relation to the circumstances in which the council would inform the public of such information. It provides that...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: Amendment No. 56 replaces the current section 60 of the principal Act and concerns the non-admissibility of a statement or admission made by a person to a panel in relation to a complaint in other proceedings. It does not apply, however, where a person commits an offence in respect of a panel inquiry. The proposed amendment follows the form of non-admissibility provisions in more recent...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: This is the amendment for which the Deputy was looking. Amendment No. 57 concerns the appointment of a panel to conduct an inquiry under section 43. The amendment proposes the replacement of Schedule 3 of the principal Act. Much of the detail of Schedule 3 is now dealt with in the proposed amendment to section 43. Accordingly, this is essentially a structural amendment and all of its...

Teaching Council (Amendment) Bill 2015: From the Seanad (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: It reads: "Notwithstanding any vacancies in the membership of the Disciplinary Committee, a panel may be appointed from among the members of that Committee." It does not relate to public hearings.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: EU Funding (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: I refer the Deputy to the answer to PQ No. 450 of 6th May 2015 on this matter wherein I highlighted that under Regulation (EU) No. 1309/2013 governing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) a derogation is permitted from the standard minimum number of at least 500 redundancies caused as a result of the adverse impacts of globalisation which is normally required before an EGF...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Appeals (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: Under the terms of my Department's School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs, children are eligible for transport where they: have special educational needs arising from a diagnosed disability in accordance with the designation of high and low incidence disability set out in Department of Education and Skill's (DES) Circular 02/05; and are attending the nearest...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Provision (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: I wish to inform the Deputy that I recently met with a representation of parents from the area in question. The terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme were fully explained and I undertook to provide additional information on a number of issues raised at this meeting. However, I must again emphasise the importance of ensuring that the terms of the school transport scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Broadband Service Speeds (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: There is a project underway at present to provide all the Training Centres and the Head Office locations of the Education and Training Boards (ETBs) with gigabit connections to the Government Cloud Network. Currently the training centres all have 50mbps connections and all internet traffic passes through SOLAS head office, but the new gigabit connections will provide the centres with direct...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards Staff (16 Jul 2015)

Damien English: The Deputy may be aware of the decision of the previous Government to implement a recruitment and promotion moratorium in the public sector, which is binding upon all Government departments, non-commercial state bodies and agencies. In respect of Educational Training Boards, positions other than teacher and SNA posts in schools, and teacher equivalents that are directly providing tuition...