Results 801-820 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (1 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The school is currently accommodated in prefabricated classrooms on a site adjoining Monkstown community centre. The cost of site and portacabin rental is grant aided by the Department at the rate of 95%. The property management section of the Office of Public Works, which purchases sites for schools on behalf of my Department, is actively pursuing the identification and acquisition of a...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (1 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The advisory committee on the education of the deaf and hard of hearing was established with the following terms of reference:- to review the adequacy of the current range of educational support services available to students who are deaf or hard of hearing; to identify; and prioritise areas of service provision which require development or adjustment, and to bring forward such proposals as...

Written Answers — Residential Institutions Redress Scheme: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (1 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: Section 4 of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 provides for the addition to the Schedule of institutions that are identified as reformatory schools, industrial schools, orphanages, children's homes and special schools, in which children were placed and resident and in respect of which a public body had a regulatory or inspection function. My Department has received correspondence...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (1 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The school referred to by the Deputy was recently approved for grant aid towards the rental of temporary accommodation. The school's need for permanent accommodation will be considered in the context of a review which is being undertaken of all projects that did not proceed as part of the 2004 school building programme with a view to including it as part of a multi-annual school building...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (1 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The position in this case is that an appeal against my Department's decision not to allow transport under the terms of the school transport scheme was upheld by the school transport appeals board in November 2003. The board was satisfied that the terms of the school transport scheme had been fairly applied, and the decision of the appeals board is final.

Written Answers — School Placement: School Placement (1 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The large-scale building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is listed in section 8 of the 2004 school building programme which is published on my Department's website at www.education.ie. This project is at stage 3, developed sketch scheme, of architectural planning. It has been assigned a band 2 rating by my Department in accordance with the published criteria for prioritising...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: I can confirm that my Department received an application for special educational resources for the pupil referred to by the Deputy. The pupil in question is in receipt of 2.5 hours resource teaching support per week. Applications for special educational resources received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 are being considered. In all, more than 5,000 such applications were received....

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: Applications for special educational resources received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 are being considered. In all, more than 5,000 such applications were received. Priority was given to cases involving children starting school last September and all these cases were responded to at or before the commencement of the current school year. The balance of more than 4,000 applications has...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: I can confirm that my Department received an application for special needs assistant and resource teaching support for the pupil referred to by the Deputy in September 2003. Applications for special educational resources received between 15 February and 31 August 2003 are being considered. In all, more than 5,000 such applications were received. Priority was given to cases involving children...

Written Answers — Literacy Levels: Literacy Levels (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development carried out an international literacy survey of adults aged 16 to 64 years in 1994/95. Findings indicated that approximately half a million people, 25% of Irish adults in that age-group, were at the lowest level, level one, indicating a reading ability no higher than that of an average 12 year old. The comparative figures for the...

Written Answers — Teachers' Remuneration: Teachers' Remuneration (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: All matters regarding pay and conditions of service of teachers is a matter for the Teachers Conciliation Council which comprises representatives from the managerial authorities of schools, teacher unions and the Departments of Education and Science and Finance. There are no proposals before the council in relation to the introduction of performance pay for teachers and any such proposal...

Written Answers — Early School Leavers: Early School Leavers (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The most recently published analysis by my Department of retention rates at second level was released in August 2003. The report indicates that of those who commenced the junior cycle programme in September 1994, approximately 3,900, or 5.7%, left school before completing the junior certificate three years later, and approximately 12,500, or 18.2%, students leave school annually without the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The school referred to by the Deputy currently has the services of a full-time shared learning support teacher. My Department is at present reviewing existing arrangements for the allocation of special educational supports to primary schools. In that context, my officials have initiated discussions on the matter with representative interests. At this stage, it would be premature to anticipate...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The pupil-teacher ratio at primary level has improved significantly in recent years. The ratio has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 18.0:1 in the 2002-03 school year. The projected ratio for the current school year is 17.35:1. In line with Government policy, my Department will continue to provide further reductions in the pupil-teacher ratio within available resources and...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: In accordance with the agreed staffing schedule for primary schools, an enrolment of 12 pupils on 30 September of the previous year is required for the purposes of the appointment or retention of a second teacher for a particular school year. The question of reducing this enrolment figure in the future will be considered in the context of available resources and subject to spending priorities...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (17 Jun 2004)

Noel Dempsey: Part-time and temporary service given by teachers employed by vocational education committees is pensionable on an ongoing basis with effect from 1 September 1996. Temporary service given by members of the administrative staff of vocational education committees is pensionable on an ongoing basis with effect from 1 January 1998. Part-time service given by such staff is pensionable on an...

Written Answers — Fishing Vessel Licences: Fishing Vessel Licences (5 Oct 2004)

Noel Dempsey: Under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003 the function of sea-fishing boat licensing was transferred from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to the licensing authority for sea-fishing boats which operates on an independent basis subject to criteria set out in section 3 of that Act. All applications for sea-fishing boat licences are now considered by the licensing...

Written Answers — Broadband Programme: Broadband Programme (5 Oct 2004)

Noel Dempsey: Under my Department's regional broadband programme, 19 metropolitan area fibre networks, MANs, have been built in association with the local authorities, and a further seven are under construction. The MANs are 90% funded using ERDF funding under the NDP 2000-2006, with the remaining 10% funding coming from the local authorities. The construction phase of each network in the regional...

Written Answers — Retail Prices: Retail Prices (5 Oct 2004)

Noel Dempsey: The information sought by the Deputy, broken down by sector, is set out below and relates to the period since the formation of the Government in June 2002. I have not listed any service provided by my Department where the cost of the service has remained unchanged since then. Communications: I have no responsibility for the level of retail prices in the communications and postal sectors. This...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (5 Oct 2004)

Noel Dempsey: I propose to take Questions Nos. 351 and 352 together. The Government's decentralisation programme includes the decentralisation of Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM, to Clonakilty, the Central Fisheries Board, CFB, to Carrick-on Shannon and Sustainable Energy Ireland, SEI, to Dundalk. Each organisation involved in the programme has submitted a decentralisation implementation plan to the...