Results 8,461-8,480 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The brief and schedule of accommodation for the school building project referred to by the Deputy has been completed. The next phase of the process for the appointment of a design team will be the publication of invitations to tender on the Governments e-tenders web-site. Officials from my Department will contact the school authority when the tendering process is about to commence. The...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The question of enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authority of those schools. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking places. In this regard, the Government's Medium Term Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework, which was published on 10th November 2011, sets out...

Written Answers — Modern Language Teaching: Modern Language Teaching (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: There are a range of foreign languages available on the curriculum in schools -- French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Arabic. Chinese and Portuguese are not on the curriculum. A Post Primary Languages Initiative has been in place since 2000 with the objective of diversifying language provision in schools, focusing particularly on Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian....

Written Answers — State Examinations: State Examinations (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in tabular form. It will be seen that participation in Physics has declined, but a greater proportion are taking the subject at higher level than heretofore. Chemistry and Applied Maths have shown modest increases. Biology has expanded rapidly, allied with an increase in the proportion taking the subject at higher level. Participation in...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the revised arrangements, which will update schools' General Allocation Model (GAM) allocations, based on the number of class teaching posts in schools for the previous year, reflect existing arrangements whereby differing pupil teacher ratios are applied under the GAM in relation to boys, girls and mixed schools in order to account for differentials of...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As I outlined to the Deputy last week, my Department is currently in the process of acquiring a site for the school to which she refers. An application for planning permission forms part of the site acquisition process. A design for the school was discussed with the school authority and following those discussions a revised school design is currently being finalised.

Written Answers — Teacher Assessment: Teacher Assessment (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The issue of quality of teaching within a school falls within the remit of the board of management and principal of that school. It is the duty of the board to provide, or cause to be provided, an appropriate education for all students attending the school. In September 2009 my Department issued circulars 59/2009 and 60/2009. These circulars provide a framework for schools to manage...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is currently considering the application referred to by the Deputy and a decision will be conveyed to the school authority as soon as this process has been completed.

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Last year I put in place revised procedures and criteria for the establishment of new schools. I also announced as part of the new procedures that an independent review body, the New Schools Establishment Group, would report to me on the proposed patronage arrangements for the new schools following a detailed analysis by my Department of the applications from prospective patrons. Full details...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 83 together. The new second level school for Lusk is one of 20 new schools, announced by the Minister in June 2011, to be established in the next 6 years. It will be a post primary school for 1000 pupils and it is anticipated that the first intake of pupils will be in September 2013. The construction of the new school will be delivered in phases. The...

Written Answers — Scoileanna Gaeltachta: Scoileanna Gaeltachta (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: D'oibrigh scoileanna i gceantair Gaeltachta riamh anall an sceideal céanna foirne le scoileanna eile chun críche post mhúinteora ranga a chruthú ag an mbunleibhéal. Bhí sceideal beagán níos fabharaí i bhfeidhm chun ceadú do scoileanna Gaeltachta post a choimeád idir na Bandaí de cheathrar agus dáréag múinteoir ranga.Maidir leis an mbeart buiséadach chun líon na ndaltaí a...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I fully acknowledge that the reduction in resources to second level schools will be challenging for schools. However, the change must be seen in the context of the major challenges we have as a Government in trying to shelter public services to the greatest extent that we can in these exceptional times. The net impact on overall teacher numbers in our schools has been minimised to the...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: A redundancy application from the person referred to by the Deputy was received by my Department on 9th September 2011. Applications are processed in date order of receipt and every effort is being made to process these applications as quickly as possible. Applications received in July 2011 are currently being processed. Extra resources have been assigned to the Redundancy Unit to ensure...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The acquisition of a site for the school to which the Deputy refers has reached pre-contract stage and outline Planning Permission has been received. The Office of Public Works on behalf of the Department are engaged in pre-contract enquiries in relation to the special conditions within the contract. Due to commercial sensitivities, I am not in a position to comment on the matter any further....

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Teachers are allocated on the basis of a pupil teacher ratio of 20:1 in fee-paying schools. Under the recent budget measures this will increase to 21:1 with effect from September, 2012. The budget measures also provide for guidance to be managed in the future by all schools from within their standard staffing allocation. Schools will have autonomy on how best to prioritise its available...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 and 90 together. The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data at individual school level in county order. The most recent information available relates to the 2010/2011 school year. Statistical information in respect of the current school year is currently being compiled in my Department and is due for publication in September...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, in June 2011, I announced that 20 new post-primary schools are to be established in the next six years across a number of locations to meet significantly increasing demographics in those areas. This announcement did not include a proposal to establish a new post-primary school in the area referred to by the Deputy. The Forward Planning Section of my Department...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that, in 2010, my Department sanctioned a grant of €260,000 to the school to which he refers for the provision of an Autistic Unit and a mainstream classroom. I understand that this building project has now been completed and that the grant has been drawn down in full. My Department considers that this level of accommodation should be sufficient to meet the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on the Second Stage of the Education (Amendment) Bill 2012. Before I turn to a detailed explanation of the provisions of the Bill, I will explain its background. As Senators may be aware, a previous edition of this Bill, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 was brought before the Dáil in October 2010 by my predecessor, Mary Coughlan....

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Senators who have contributed and for the broad support for the Bill. Some people were familiar with it in another time. As Senator Fidelma Healy Eames said, it is the first time this House has debated the Bill. It is a short Bill that embraces some fundamental points of education. As Senator Power said, the measures are largely technical and I will deal generally with the...