Results 6,221-6,240 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: In the context of the relevant recommendation, as the Deputy will be aware, schools are a key part of the local public life in their communities. There are numerous links between schools and their communities. Since boards of management were introduced in our schools, thousands of local volunteers have individually and collectively enriched and contributed to the management and operation of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not have a role in the provision of sheltered bus stops. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the development and implementation of public transport infrastructure including the provision of bus shelters.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department received an application under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school authority in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Educational Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: In considering applications for the use of school facilities or grounds for non-primary or non-post primary related uses, a category within which a pre-school would fall, regard has to be had to the current and future education requirements of the school already located on a site. My Department notes that the area in which the primary school in question is located is targeted for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy that an application under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme was received from the school in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: It is open to any school to offer Mandarin Chinese as an optional Leaving Certificate curricular subject. Schools are supported in this regard by Post Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI), which is charged under the Languages Connect strategy to provide support for foreign languages education in Ireland, predominantly at post-primary level. Any student who is studying Mandarin Chinese for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The permanent school building project for the school referred to by the Deputy has been assigned to my Department’s Design & Build delivery programme. This delivery programme uses a professional external Project Manager to progress the project through the relevant stages of architectural planning, tender and construction. An application for Planning Permission was...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that it has recently been confirmed, that the school referred to in this question, now has sufficient enrolments for the 2021/22 school year to provide for the appointment of an additional teaching post, for the teacher concerned. This teacher will now be included for payment at the next available pay date, of 4th November, 2021, with back payments, effective from...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The Pension Unit of my Department receives approximately 700 queries per week via email and telephone. In instances of general queries, a response issues to the Customer within two to three days. For more complex queries, an initial acknowledgement will issue to the teacher and the query is then forwarded to the relevant area within the Pension Unit for their direct response and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The approach to supporting schools to operate safely during Covid-19 has been to follow and implement public health advice. The Department of Education has an ongoing close working relationship with the Department of Health and the HSE throughout the period of the pandemic in the context of implementing important infection prevention control measures in schools to ensure that they can operate...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: New schools are established by my Department on the basis of identified demographic demand in an area, and only after consideration of the capacity of existing schools to absorb the expected school place demand. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The project at the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at tender stage and the return date for the tenders is the middle of November 2021. Subject to no issues arising during the tender process it is envisaged that this project should commence on site late in Quarter 1 of 2022. Once the project commences on site it will take approximately 30 months to construct the building.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Administration (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers is Ennis Community College and is classified as a Community College. This school is an English-medium school which also has an Aonad/Irish-medium unit known as "Gaelcholáiste an Chláir". The patron of this Community College has written to the Department seeking approval for the Aonad known as "Gaelcholáiste an Chláir" to transition...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 113,100 children, including over 14,500 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. The purpose of my Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The management authority of each school has responsibility for making decisions regarding the Transition Year programme in that school. Each school designs its own Transition Year programme, within set guidelines, to suit the needs and interests of its students. In establishing its own distinctive programme content, the school takes into account the possibilities offered by local...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 557 and 566 together. My Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I can confirm that officials from my Department have identified a number of potential site options for the permanent location of the school referred to by the Deputy. A technical site assessment is currently underway of these sites. Where a suitable site has been acquired, my Department will be in a position to progress the project concerned into the architectural planning process. Due to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Budget 2022 has provided for an allocation of €18million for 2022 and €32million for 2023 to extend the DEIS programme to further schools with the highest levels of disadvantage. This represents an increase of over 20% in funding for the DEIS programme and will enable an expansion in 2022 of the programme to further schools. This package follows an extensive body of work...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/2021 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. All children who are eligible...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available and is being collated by officials in my Department. A response will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.