Results 9,521-9,540 of 13,291 for speaker:Joe McHugh

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Services Staff (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants. The starting salaries for a new entrant special need assistant and school secretaries paid on a public service payscale in 2012 was €20,869. As a result of the programme of pay restoration, the starting salary of these staff is now €23,999 and from 1 October 2020 onwards will be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: Members of the TUI voted to accept the September 2018 new entrant pay deal and this agreement is benefiting 16,000 teachers within the education sector. I am aware that the teacher unions have outstanding issues of concern following the September 2018 agreement. These outstanding matters will be given full consideration either by any pay review mechanism agreed by the parties to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants to start. The starting salary for a new entrant teacher in 2012 was €30,702. As a result of the programme of pay restoration, the starting salary of a teacher is now €36,953 and from 1 October 2020 onwards will be €37,692. Section 11 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The enrolment of a child to a school is a matter in the first instance for the parents/guardians of the child and the Board of Management of a school. My Department has no role either in making or deciding on enrolment applications to schools or keeping waiting lists. In these matters, schools are required to adhere to the requirements of relevant legislation and the policies of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: This building project is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan. The project is currently at Stage 2B of the Architectural Planning process – Detailed Design Stage which includes securing statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. The pre-qualification of contractors process to compile...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan. This project is one of the school building projects on my Department’s ADAPT 2 (Accelerated Delivery of Architectural Planning & Tendering) Programme. My Department has completed the process...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in Department Circular 0030/2014, which is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy will be aware, the Government announced plans in April 2018 for the establishment of 42 new schools over the next four years (2019 to 2022) including a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school to be established in September 2020 to serve the Tallaght & Newcastle_Rathcoole (Citywest/Saggart) school planning areas as a regional solution. This announcement follows nationwide,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The school building project referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under the Department’s Design and Build programme. Planning permission has been secured and tender documentation is being prepared. It is anticipated that the project will proceed to tender in Quarter 1 of 2020, with a view to being on site in Quarter 2 of 2020.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Administration (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The policy of this Department is that all children with Special Educational Needs, including those with Autism, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network. Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Services Staff (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: I recognise the very important work done by these staff, and the other support staff in the running of our schools. I have spoken to a number of school secretaries about their employment conditions and understand the issues they have raised. Earlier this year I relaxed the moratorium for those C&C and ETB schools with enrolments of 700 and more which allow them to employ additional...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System, using data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Provision (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: An application under the home tuition grant scheme for the child referred to by the Deputy was received by my Department on the 5th September 2019 and a decision letter issued to the parent/guardian on the 13th September 2019. While the Home Tuition application form outlines that it may take the Department up to 15 working days to process home tuition applications, the Department is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Child Poverty (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: My Department provides a book grant to all recognised primary and post primary schools within the Free Education Scheme in order to provide assistance for books including Book Rental Schemes. Under this scheme, the Department provided funding of €16.9 million in 2019 to all of these schools. School book rental schemes have an important role to play in reducing the cost of school books...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System, using data from a range of sources, to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. With this information, my Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: I am pleased to advise the Deputy that my Department has recently approved funding for the provision of permanent additional accommodation at the school in question. In assessing the application my Department considered that existing accommodation could be utilised, as an interim measure, pending delivery of the permanent accommodation.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Healthcare Policy (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The Strategy Committee for the National Strategy for Women and Girls has recently established a sub-committee on period poverty. My Department is participating on the sub-committee, which is chaired by the Department of Health. The sub-committee will examine available evidence to establish the prevalence of period poverty in Ireland, the populations at risk of experiencing such poverty and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in Department Circular 0030/2014, which is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Expenditure (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table: Item Cost incurred to date (€) 42 new schools announced in April 2018* €2,934,100 *costs relate to 17 of the 42 schools announced in April 2018, which opened in Sept 2019 Before any project goes to tender a pre-tender cost estimate is established. However pre-tender cost estimates are not published...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Expenditure (17 Sep 2019)

Joe McHugh: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table: Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 (to date) Amount spent on Design Team Fees such as Architects, Engineers etc. for school building projects (€)* 18,185,413 22,456,989 21,836,136 13,322,114 While the delivery of major capital projects on the school building programme uses external design teams (Architects, Engineers...