Results 7,161-7,180 of 7,314 for speaker:Darren O'Rourke

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Pension Parity and Working Conditions for School Secretaries and Caretakers: Fórsa (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank everyone. Chair, I would-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Pension Parity and Working Conditions for School Secretaries and Caretakers: Fórsa (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I propose the committee write to the Minister just as a formal proposal on this issue and call for urgent engagement. I mean the Ministers for education and public expenditure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Pension Parity and Working Conditions for School Secretaries and Caretakers: Fórsa (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: That is no problem. I think people probably agree with that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Pension Parity and Working Conditions for School Secretaries and Caretakers: Fórsa (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: The two Ministers is what I said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Pension Parity and Working Conditions for School Secretaries and Caretakers: Fórsa (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I do not have a question, but I want to highlight some of our frustrations. The Minister for public expenditure will be before the Dáil for oral questions next week. I submitted a question specifically around the engagement with Fórsa on this issue. It has been rejected and diverted to the Minister for Education and Youth. That is part of the frustration at this end. Some of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Proposed Redesignation of Schools for Children with Mild General Learning Disabilities: Principals of Special Schools (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the committee, the secretariat and the Chair for facilitating this meeting. I also thank Deputy Cummins for proposing it. I thank the witnesses for being here. It strikes me that there is a fundamental issue at stake in terms of the design and mix of our special education system. My concern, and what I hear from the witnesses, is that we have the potential to both lose and fail...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Proposed Redesignation of Schools for Children with Mild General Learning Disabilities: Principals of Special Schools (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: What about the suggestion that we would have special classes? I know we do not have them and that we are losing them rather than increasing the number, but is there an argument that special classes might be an appropriate forum?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Proposed Redesignation of Schools for Children with Mild General Learning Disabilities: Principals of Special Schools (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I presume what the witnesses are urgently looking for is engagement on this issue. Do they get any succour from the Minister? It was stated at a previous meeting that there will not be a change in September.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Proposed Redesignation of Schools for Children with Mild General Learning Disabilities: Principals of Special Schools (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Ms O'Neill wants to see that happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Proposed Redesignation of Schools for Children with Mild General Learning Disabilities: Principals of Special Schools (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank Mr. Haran.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Proposed Redesignation of Schools for Children with Mild General Learning Disabilities: Principals of Special Schools (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank Mr. Browne.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Youth: Proposed Redesignation of Schools for Children with Mild General Learning Disabilities: Principals of Special Schools (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: This is more a comment than a question. For me, something quite fundamental is at stake here. I refer to the mix of our education system and accessibility for children differentiated based on their needs. That is a fundamental piece and I will be very happy to work with the witnesses. We have identified this, in fairness to the committee. We will pursue it and work with the witnesses to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Costs (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue. I am raising the issue of the cost many parents are faced with for digital devices like iPads, tablets and laptops when schools move to a one-to-one digital device policy. It is happening quite a lot and comes at very significant cost to families, many of which have multiple students at school. Devices can cost anything up to...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: School Costs (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: The Minister of State's response is the response we have been getting to the question over the past few months. I want to put a number of things on the record, which I would appreciate the Minister of State conveying to the Ministers for Education and Youth and Social Protection. We have a funding crisis in education. We cannot take from ICT funding that is desperately needed to keep...

Aircraft Noise (Dublin Airport) Regulation (Transfer of Functions) Bill 2024: Second Stage [Private Members] (10 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill and I thank Deputy Smith for bringing it forward. The usual approach from the Government is to delay these Bills by 12 months or let them go to Committee State to die. It is a particular point when the Government opposes a Bill. I would say it was a surprise but it is entirely consistent with my experience of how Fianna Fáil and Fine...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (9 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 68. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on a new school building project (details supplied); if tenders have been assessed and awarded; if so, to whom; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38226/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 170. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the new building for Dunboyne College of Further Education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37298/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Health and Safety (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 403. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of updating the safety in school science guidelines. [37292/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 404. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of bringing secondary school science labs up to date and modernised for the new senior cycle reforms. [37293/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 426. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an allowance covering the cost of a device (details supplied) for each child in a school that teaches using such a device rather than traditional textbooks. [37697/25]