Results 9,621-9,640 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Universal Support Ireland Staffing (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: City of Dublin Education and Training Board is the designated single awarding authority for student grants in Ireland. SUSI was formally established in early 2012, as a new unit within CDETB with sanction for a staffing complement of 65 full-time equivalents. Subsequently, the additional resources recommended by the review carried out by Accenture were sanctioned in 2013. The additional...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 provides that those former residents who received awards from the Residential Institutions Redress Board or equivalent Court awards or settlements are eligible to apply to Caranua. This approach was taken having regard to the maximum funds available of €110 million and a potential pool of some 15,000 applicants. As the Deputy may...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 200 and 201 together. I can appreciate that supporting a student through third level education can be challenging. The decision to abolish the Gaeltacht Placement grants, from September 2012, has to be viewed in the context of the prevailing requirement to reduce costs and achieve efficiencies where possible. Priority was given to protecting resources for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Council for Special Education (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) published its Report on a Proposed New Model for Allocating Teachers for Students with Special Educational Needs on 18th June 2014. The NCSE, consulted widely with education partners, representatives of the disability sector, stakeholders and parent representative groups, during the course of the development...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As the Deputy will be aware, the Government gave approval in March of this year for drafting the Education (Admissions to Schools) Bill 2014. The General Scheme has since been referred to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government for drafting. Drafting of the Bill is currently underway. The objective of the Admissions to School Bill is to provide an over-arching framework to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: At primary level the staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally irrespective of location. The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level. The national average class size at primary level is 24.7 pupils. However, with over 21,100 classes in over 3,100 primary schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department's over-riding objective is to ensure that every child has access to a physical school place and that our school system is in a position to cope with increasing pupil numbers. To ensure that this is achieved, the delivery of major school projects to meet significant demographic demands nationally will be the main focus for capital investment in schools in the coming years. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Five Year Construction Plan that was announced in March 2012 as part of the Department's €2 billion capital investment programme, outlines the major school projects that are scheduled to commence construction over the duration of the Plan. These have been prioritised on the basis of meeting significant demographic needs. In addition, my Department will also consider applications...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Reviews (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: As part of the junior cycle reform, there has been a move away from multi-level specification of subjects. English, Irish and Mathematics are the only subjects offered at two levels. All other subjects will be offered at a single common level. This move is consistent with good practice in curriculum specification internationally, and contributes to the development of more inclusive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is currently finalising a schedule of accommodation for the school in question in the context of the growing demand for additional school places. My Department will be in contact with the school when this process has been completed.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Staff Data (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: For the Deputy's information, there are 90 temporary contracts in place in non commercial bodies under the remit of my Department. In relation to teaching and non-teaching staff, schools receive an allocation of posts each year and the majority of positions are filled on a permanent basis. The criteria for the allocation of posts is published annually on the Department website. Where...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Staff Data (9 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information requested by the Deputy is being compiled by my Department and will be forwarded directly to him.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 233 and 281 together. The decision to abolish the Gaeltacht Placement grants, from September 2012, has to be viewed in the context of the prevailing requirement to reduce costs and achieve efficiencies where possible. Priority was given to protecting resources for front line education services as far as possible in the coming years, which is especially...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Minor Works Scheme Expenditure (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Circular Letter 0062/2013 which was published as the Minor Works Grant for the school year 2013/2014 issued last November states "the grant will only be paid in future years as funding permits". The focus under the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Programme 2012-2016 is on meeting the demand for additional school places. Consequently, there is no funding provided at this time in the 2014...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Childhood Obesity (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The policy statement by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland contains a number of recommendations relevant to the education sector. I welcome the fact that a number of these recommendations relate to initiatives that are already being supported by my Department. These include the continued support for the expansion of the Active Schools Flag initiative, which is funded by my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Assistance Fund (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Student Assistance Fund is allocated annually to the universities, the institutes of technology, the colleges of education and a number of other recurrently-funded higher education institutions. The objective of the Fund is to provide financial assistance to full-time undergraduate or postgraduate students in need of such support. The Fund is intended to support students whose...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am aware of the difficult situation in which the centre in question finds itself in which arises from the decision of its main funder to withdrawal financial support. In 2014 my Department will provide 968 teacher co-operation hours, under the Co-operation Hours Scheme operated by the local Education and Training Board (ETB), and non-pay funding of €47,500, to the centre. This...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Work Placement Programmes (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Information in regard to WPP numbers was received from the Department of Social Protection and forwarded to the Deputy on 24 June 2014. I have asked my Department to forward a copy of the letter to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Site Acquisitions (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The conveyancing process for the site intended to provide for the new school building referred to by the Deputy is currently underway and my officials are working to ensure that the process is completed as soon as possible. Once the site acquisition is completed, my Department will be in contact with the relevant school authorities in relation to the progression of the school building project.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (14 Oct 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Teaching Council is the body with statutory authority, under the Teaching Council Act 2001, for establishing procedures and criteria for the probation of teachers. All primary teachers must complete their probation successfully before they can achieve full registration with the Teaching Council. As part of the probationary process, at the request of the Teaching Council, the Inspectorate...