Results 9,261-9,280 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: It is a State-funded body and it does work right across the system in terms of curriculum and assessment. Its costs for junior cycle reform would presumably be part of the cost of running the organisation anyway. There is some teacher education involved, which has commenced, but again, I am going to have to give the Senator the figures later.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: It is only just commencing, so the costs will really start to escalate in future years, more so than in this particular year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Yes. We hope to have a figure later in the meeting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I have not got it on a printed piece of paper at this stage. I will come back to the Senator on both of those other questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: It does a lot of other work - a very wide range of work.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Will I continue with the other answers and then we can come back to this? Senator Power asked about special needs as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Every child who is deemed to need support gets support. There have been cuts that none of us has liked but we hope to be in a position to increase funding in the near future. We have increased funding on special needs education in terms of the number of resource teachers, SNAs, etc. I welcome Senator Power's statement about the importance of services and that it is important to maintain...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: That is why I am addressing it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As the Senator knows, the Early Start programme has been there since the time when Niamh Bhreathnach was Minister for Education. We have that intervention, which is specifically for particularly disadvantaged areas. I have a very strong commitment in this area and I intend to ensure that we do improve the quality. Senator Power also asked about patronage. I will be continuing the work...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The figures I have given are for 2014. The budget for 2015 remains to be decided in the coming budget.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I know that was the question. I do not think the NCCA has a breakdown of the amounts of staff time spent specifically on the reform, but if I can get any more detail I will provide it to the Senator. That is all the information I have on the matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: No, I do not think so. It is my understanding that it did not. Existing NCCA staff were involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: No, I did not say that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There were consultation meetings around the country on the reform of the junior cycle. How does one quantify the cost of those?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I outlined the expenditure to run the NCCA, but the entire junior cycle reform did not happen in the NCCA.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There is a consultation process. The roll-out of the reformed junior cycle is ongoing. The process has only started.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will repeat those figures. They are the ones from the Department. They are €4.8 million in 2014 and €1.5 million in 2013.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: No, that is departmental expenditure. The figure for the NCCA is separate but only a portion of it relates to time allocated to the junior cycle reform. If Senator O'Donnell wishes to return to the issue in future, we will try to break down the figures further. I will return to questions asked by other members. I agree with Senator Moran that the 30 September deadline is an issue for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will respond briefly to the question on JobBridge and special needs assistants, SNAs. I have spoken publicly on the matter. JobBridge should not displace any job. That is the bottom line as far as we are concerned. The Department of Social Protection, which administers JobBridge, did remove some advertisements because they were considered to be inappropriate for schools. Extra SNAs...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Vote 26 - Update on Pre-Budget and Policy Issues: Minister for Education and Skills (24 Sep 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: A lot of people feel very strongly about the issue. I am asking parents’ councils to give me feedback on the surveys.