Results 6,581-6,600 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — School Premises: School Premises (28 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the primary responsibility of my Department in this area is the provision of school facilities for the effective delivery of the curriculum. In addition, the Deputy might note that school authorities have a considerable degree of autonomy in relation to how their premises are managed and utilised at local level. However, I do recognise that there is a lack of...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (28 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: Under Section 30 of the Education Act 1998, the curriculum in schools is subject to my approval, following any consultation considered appropriate with the partners in education and the advice of National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. The NCCA has been asked to review the junior certificate and advise on the scope for reform designed to strengthen literacy and numeracy, embed key...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (28 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to confirm that an application form has been received from the school referred to by the Deputy for a residual balance of resource teaching hours for 2011/12. The application form will be processed in due course and the school will be advised accordingly.

Written Answers — Public Service Contracts: Public Service Contracts (28 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The following table shows the amounts spent by my Department in 2010 and 2011 on contracts for outsourced IT Services. None of these contracts involve any subcontracting. The information for agencies under the aegis of the Department is not readily available and would involve an inordinate amount of administrative time to compile. However, if the Deputy has any particular agency in mind I...

Written Answers — Civil Service Staff: Civil Service Staff (28 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The majority of the information sought by the Deputy is publicly available on the internet. The grades and payscales as at 1 January 2010 for the following categories of staff in the education sector are available on the Circular list on the Department's website at http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservlet/circular_listing .htm : Teacher Special Needs Assistant Clerical Officers employed...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that in the context of making provision for the long term accommodation needs of the school in question, officials in my Department have conducted technical inspections of two properties at the request of the school authority. A proposal has been forwarded to the land owner for consideration. My Department is currently awaiting a response to this proposal. In the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 105 and 106 together. Limited alleviation or adjustment measures have been provided to assist schools which have high concentrations of Traveller pupils who were previously supported by Resource Teacher for Travellers (RTT) posts. As the Deputy is aware, the decision to remove these posts was taken by the previous Fianna Fail - Green Party Government in last...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for a student's grant awarding body. Where a grant awarding authority turns down an application and subsequently rejects an appeal, the applicant may appeal this decision to my Department. No appeal has been received by my Department from the student to date. A review of the case will be carried out as quickly as possible should an...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I regret that the economic circumstances of the country are such that I am not in a position to reverse or alter any of the changes to the student grant measures announced in Budget 2011 by the previous Fianna Fáil - Green Party Government. These changes included an increase in the qualifying distance criterion for the non-adjacent rate of grant. I understand the concerns of students with...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The staff employed in my Department broken down by grade are set out in the following Table 1. The latest pay scales for non-administrative staff in my Department are set out in Table 2, which has been forwarded to the Deputy. The latest pay scales for General Service Grades which came into effect on 1 January 2010 are set out in Circular 28/2009: Revision of pay of Civil Servants available...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy applied to my Department for funding under the Summer Works Scheme 2011. Unfortunately, due to the scale of demand for funding under the scheme, it was not possible to grant aid all applications. As outlined in the Circular governing the operation of the scheme, applications for works in the higher categories of eligible works were...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: In September 2005, my Department announced the allocation of funding of €300 million for an Education PPP Programme comprising of 23 new post primary schools and 4 new primary schools under a major expansion of the Government's Public Private Partnership Programme. The provision of the proposed new secondary school in Skibbereen was included in that announcement. The first bundle of...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy is aware, a major project for the school to which he refers was included on the list of projects on the work programme for 2011, which was announced on 24 January 2011, where accommodation briefs will be formulated and the process of appointing a Design Team will commence. In order to progress this matter further, the Department is, in the first instance, reviewing the Schedule...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The financial circumstances of the country are such that I am not in a position currently to reverse any of the changes to the student grant schemes introduced by the previous Fianna Fáil – Green Party Government or to make extra funding available. However, students on particularly low incomes will continue to receive a "top-up" in the special rate of grant and the Student Assistance Fund...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy is referring to the change to the student grant schemes introduced by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government which removes the automatic entitlement of mature students to the non-adjacent rate of grant. It is estimated that some 6,900 mature students live 45 kilometres or less from their institution. From September 2011, students qualifying for the maintenance element...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to confirm to the Deputy that the school to which he refers was among those 453 primary and post primary schools across the country who will be receiving funding under the 2011 Summer Works Scheme. Details of the schools in question are available on my Department's website www.education.ie. The school in question has received written notification to this effect from my Department.

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants to schools to support children with special educational needs. SENOs also make recommendations to my Department where assisting technology is required. The NCSE...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the student grant scheme and application form for the 2011/12 academic year was published on www.studentfinance.ie on 27 June, 2011.

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The case in question was admitted by the Section 29 Administration Unit of my Department on the 10th June 2011. In accordance with Section 29 of the Education Act 1998, appeals are generally dealt with within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the appeal. This appeal hearing is due to take place on 8th July 2011. Following the receipt of the Committee's determination, the...

Written Answers — Overseas Students: Overseas Students (29 Jun 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: Details on the number of overseas students attending third level institutions in September 2011 will not be available until such students have registered with their respective colleges. I understand from the Higher Education Authority that preliminary figures for the 2010/11 academic year show that there were 24,399 international students in higher education institutions in Ireland (not...