Results 6,781-6,800 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to inform the Deputy that 10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts are being provided for SNA support for the coming school year. This is a significant number of posts and unlike other areas of the public sector vacancies are being filled up to this number. It is considered that with equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources that there should be sufficient...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to clarify for the Deputy that Special Needs Assistant (SNA) allocations are not permanent, as the level of SNA support allocated to a school may be increased or decreased as pupils who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. They are also decreased where a child's care needs may have diminished over time. The recruitment and deployment of SNAs within schools are matters for...

Written Answers — School Services Staff: School Services Staff (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to inform the Deputy that 10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts are being provided for SNA support for the coming school year. This is a significant number of posts and unlike other areas of the public sector vacancies are being filled up to this number. It is considered that with equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources that there should be sufficient...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The selection and enrolment of pupils in schools is the responsibility of the authorities of the individual school. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in an area. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice. As schools may not have a...

Written Answers — Schools Services Staff: Schools Services Staff (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that 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 (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. This now...

Written Answers — Schools Services Staff: Schools Services Staff (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to inform the Deputy that there will be more SNA posts this year than there were last year. There is therefore no estimated budget saving. 10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts are being provided for SNA support for the coming school year. This is a significant number of posts and unlike other areas of the public sector vacancies are being filled up to this number. It is...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The allocation to date for New Kildare Town Community School is 46 teaching posts. This includes a concession of 2.50 posts in relation to the amalgamation and 3 posts under projected enrolment for the 2011/12 school year. The 3 posts for projected enrolment are provisionally allocated and are subject to the school confirming enrolment numbers to the Department in early September. There are...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to inform the Deputy that 10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts are being provided for SNA support for the coming school year. This is a significant number of posts and unlike other areas of the public sector vacancies are being filled up to this number. It is considered that with equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources that there should be sufficient...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The building project to deliver a new 24 classroom building for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at architectural planning stage. The Board of Management was informed last week that the project may proceed to stage 2b, to secure planning permission, fire certificate and disability access certificate. When the relevant statutory approvals have been obtained and stage 2b...

Written Answers — Preschool Services: Preschool Services (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy may be aware, the vast majority of support for childcare, including pre-school education, is not provided by my Department, but is provided by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The principle vehicle for delivery of pre-school education is the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme which was introduced in January 2010 and provides...

Written Answers — Vocational Education Committees: Vocational Education Committees (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: Teacher allocations to VEC schemes are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. In accordance with existing arrangements, where a school management authority is unable to meet its curricular commitments within its approved allocation, my Department considers applications for additional short term support i.e. curricular...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: €60 million has been allocated in 2011 to meet commitments arising from earlier years and to fund approvals in 2011 under my Department's Additional Accommodation Scheme.

Written Answers — School Services Staff: School Services Staff (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The rules and regulations governing the submission of redundancy claims are set down by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The Department of Education and Skills has no discretion to alter the terms of the scheme.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Forward Planning Section of my Department has examined all areas of the country to determine where additional provision will be required at both primary and post-primary level up to 2017. This detailed analysis is now being finalised and action plans are being drawn up for each priority location in order to identify how to meet the additional school accommodation. It is within this...

Written Answers — Special Educaitonal Needs: Special Educaitonal Needs (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to inform the Deputy that 10,575 whole time equivalent (WTE) posts are being provided for SNA support for the coming school year. This is a significant number of posts and unlike other areas of the public sector vacancies are being filled up to this number. It is considered that with equitable and careful management and distribution of these resources that there should be sufficient...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: It would appear that the Deputy is referring to the arrangements that are applying for 2011/12 to Language Support Teachers in schools. A phased reduction in the number of Language Support Teachers was one of a number of measures introduced in Budget 2011 in order to contain the cost of the public sector wage bill. However, due to increased pressure on teacher numbers, it has proved...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 122, 124, 125 and 127 together. Based on my Department's most recent statistics, it is expected that enrolments will increase nationally from a current enrolment at primary level of circa 509,652 pupils to circa 552,800 pupils by 2017 and at post-primary level from a current enrolment of circa 317,432 pupils to circa 342,300 pupils by 2017. My Department is...

Written Answers — Educational Policy: Educational Policy (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The process of allocating teaching resources to schools for 2011/2012 takes place in the context of the EU/IMF Programme of Support for Ireland and the Public Service Agreement 2010/2014. It is necessary for my Department to exercise additional control and reporting measures this year to ensure that the numbers of teachers employed in schools is consistent with the EU/IMF Programme of Support...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers has applied to my Department for funding to provide ancillary accommodation and for refurbishment works. Additional information was sought from the school authority in relation to the application. This information has now been received and the application is currently being assessed. A decision will be conveyed to the school authority...

Written Answers — School Inspections: School Inspections (7 Jul 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: Responsibility for the implementation of recommendations arising from inspection reports rests primarily with the board of management and the principal and staff of the school. Following the in-school evaluation phase of a whole-school evaluation, the evaluation team meets with the board of management, principal and staff of the school to discuss the findings and recommendations of the WSE. A...