Results 8,401-8,420 of 19,411 for speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Child and Family Income Support: Discussion (22 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Would it not then be more logical to increase the child dependant allowance or the qualifying child allowance rather than to introduce another tier of bureaucracy and a second child benefit? The means test will already have been done in respect of the qualifying child allowance. An increase in that payment could be made while leaving child benefit alone.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Report on Child and Family Income Support: Discussion (22 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I am not suggesting it should be left as it is. If the payment was increased and made allowable in respect of increased FIS thresholds, that would capture those who are struggling on low pay. The Department indicated to the committee two years ago that it would try to reduce the number of payments into a single working-age payment as it did not want to have additional add-ons. We are now...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I hope the Minister was referring to the PALS preschool because the parents are very concerned they will end up having to repay some of the tuition fees they received which covered the hours their children were in the preschool, some of which were in a group setting which was vital for the children to learn social interaction. If the rules are too strictly applied, as has been suggested, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: From his answer it is obvious the Minister of State is aware of the college in question, which is an exceptional one by any yardstick. Recently the education committee visited it and saw at first hand the type of work that is carried on in this college. It plays a pioneering role, some aspects of which have already been identified given the Department has recognised its level 8 courses. By...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Can the Minister of State provide a guarantee there will be no job losses beyond the number he gave of two posts, to be an exception for one year, and that the college will be unaffected by the changes in the pupil teacher ratio? Given the nature of the specialised courses it offers there, is a danger of a loss, not only of specialist lecturers but also of specialist courses for which the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: In regard to the legacy courses, is the Minister of State suggesting that the courses currently offered in Ballyfermot will be transferred elsewhere? He suggested that City of Dublin VEC had ten additional posts but the loss to Ballyfermot college alone could be as high as nine or ten teaching posts. This loss of teaching jobs will have an equivalent impact on lost courses. As an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I asked the Minister of State whether it was the intention in the long term to move the legacy courses away from colleges like Ballyfermot.

Other Questions: Third Level Admissions Entry Requirements (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Does the Minister not find it strange that while this State and its educational institutions expect colleges in Britain and the North to give due recognition to the leaving certificate, in some instances similar recognition is not given to A-level courses here? The question tabled by Deputy Stanley arose as a result of the experience of a student who applied for a drama degree course in NUI...

Other Questions: Third Level Admissions Entry Requirements (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I thank the Minister.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Am I to take it that, if a number of siblings require home tuition, their total number of hours will be combined to match a one-to-one allocation scenario? I know of an instance of three children who require home tuition and have varying degrees of autism. Instead of an allocation to a household, therefore, they would be entitled to the full amount as if they were individual cases. There...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: If the Department is changing or clarifying its understanding of how allocations to siblings will be made, there will be instances of reduced hours. In the case of two siblings, their total allocation - the Minister called it a double-up - could be cut in half. In the case of three siblings, their total allocation would be further reduced. This could have major implications, particularly...

Other Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The Minister of State announced 25 additional or alleviation posts. Can he indicate the full number of job losses, whether full time or part time? I presume the 17 vocational education committees that supplied the Minister of State with documentation would have explained the full extent of the cuts. The information I have is that hundreds of teaching posts would be affected. I am not sure...

Other Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: The posts being allowed as a transitional measure are permanent posts.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Payments (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: We are on Question No. 52.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Payments (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I welcome the changes which, hopefully, will be brought about in the SUSI system. I would suggest the following issue that could be addressed at an early stage. During this debacle, there was much criticism made of students not completing forms or supplying the correct documentation. It was an excuse in many cases. I suggest that during late August and early September there be a campaign...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills in respect of the announcement that eight new English medium schools are to be established in 2015/16, the processes his Department are putting in place to measure and assess the demand for the provision of an Aonad, Irish medium unit; the processes that are in place to measure this demand; the requirements there are on patrons to actively...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (28 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 110. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will give assurances that any homeowner who refuses to pay the household charge will not be penalised should their children apply for third level grant assistance. [25400/13]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 2. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans regarding the future of family income supplement and its income limits. [26027/13]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I welcome the news that the backlog has virtually gone and that FIS applications are on track. It is a useful scheme because increasing numbers of people who are in reduced employment because of the downturn and whose overtime and hours have been cut are now finding themselves to be a working poverty group in Irish society. Is there any indication why so many are not applying? There is an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Family Income Supplement (29 May 2013)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I welcome any move that further highlights this area and cannot see why employers would object in any way, given that their employees might be a little happier if they had an additional income. I refer to the advisory group on tax and social welfare proposals. If its proposals, which relate to child income supports etc., went ahead the families who are in receipt of FIS would be much worse...