Results 9,841-9,860 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Qualified teachers paid on my Departments' payroll who are teaching in recognised special schools are paid on the common basic scale for teachers. They are paid appropriate qualification and post of responsibility allowances. The salary scale and allowance details for teachers are outlined on my Departments' website. The pay increase of 3% due from the 1st December, 2006 as a result of the...

Written Answers — School Closures: School Closures (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Trustees of the school referred to have confirmed their intention to close the school and have recently reaffirmed to the Department that the closure will be on a phased basis and will commence in September 2007, with all students in junior cycle being given the option of proceeding to senior cycle, including the opportunity to avail of a transition year. The Trustees have also confirmed...

Written Answers — Third Level Students: Third Level Students (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The most recent figures available from Eurostat are for 2003/04. In that year, a total of 17,422 Irish students were studying abroad. Of that number, 16,266 were studying in higher education institutions in other EU Member States. The remaining 1,156 students were studying in Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Albania, the...

Written Answers — Third Level Students: Third Level Students (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The most recent figures available are for the academic year 2005/2006. In that year, 1567 Irish students studied abroad under the Erasmus programme.

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 169 together. The Substance Misuse Prevention Programme (which is also known as the Walk Tall Programme support service) is available to all schools in local drug task force areas and to date teachers have availed of the training provided to over 325 schools. In addition to the 325 primary schools in the LDTF areas in Dublin, Bray and Cork which...

Written Answers — Student Accommodation: Student Accommodation (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: In recognition of the difficulties that students can experience in obtaining suitable accommodation and following consultation with third level institutions, a special tax incentive was introduced to encourage the provision of student rented residential accommodation in Section 50 of the Finance Act, 1999. The Act provides for relevant Guidelines to be issued by the Minister for Education and...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: My Department funds four maintenance grant schemes for third level and further education students which are administered by the Local Authorities and the Vocational Education Committees. The Higher Education Grant Scheme operates under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992. Generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy is aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through the local special educational needs organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special needs supports, including special needs assistant (SNA) support. The SENOs also convey decisions on the applications directly to schools. I can confirm that the local SENO received an...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The school to which the Deputy refers made an application under the Summer Works Scheme 2007 for provision of a hardcourt play area. On the 8th January 2007 I announced details of the schools to receive funding to improve facilities under the Summer Works Scheme 2007. Under the published prioritisation criteria governing the Scheme, external environment projects fall into category ten. This...

Written Answers — School Enrolment: School Enrolment (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authority of those schools and the Department does not seek to intervene in decisions made by schools in such matters. The Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking places. This may result, however, in some pupils not obtaining a place in the...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: My Department funds four maintenance grant schemes for third level and further education students which are administered by the Local Authorities and the Vocational Education Committees. Generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses at undergraduate or postgraduate level for the first time are eligible for maintenance grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Information in relation to class size is provided by the annual census of primary schools. The census for the current school-year (2006/07) is currently being worked on and data are not yet available. Data at sub-county area are not generally available due to the inordinate amount of work involved. Major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years. At the...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Department is currently in negotiation around the possibility of acquiring the building to which the Deputy refers. This process is complex involving as it does suitability assessment, valuations, price negotiations and attendant legal formalities. The Department is keenly aware that the issues concerned are commercially sensitive and that it is not a foregone conclusion that the...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 479 and 480 together. A re-assessment of projected enrolments, demographic trends and housing developments in the area has recently been completed in the Department. The long term projected staffing, on which the accommodation needs will be based, has been notified to the school authorities. My officials are in the process of drawing up a detailed...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: An application has been received from the school authority for capital funding towards the provision of an extension to provide ancillary accommodation. An assessment of projected enrolments, demographic trends and housing developments in the area is currently being undertaken in the Department. The application will be re-assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria and...

Written Answers — Schools Amalgamation: Schools Amalgamation (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The proposed building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning. The project was included in my announcement of January 2006 to commence architectural planning. The Design Team has recently been appointed for the project and has been requested to submit a Stage 1/2 (Site suitability/outline sketch scheme) submission. When the submission...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Under the mean's tested provision of the Higher Education Grant Scheme a candidate's reckonable income is based on income from all sources from the previous tax year, unless there is an adverse change of circumstances, which is likely to be permanent (i.e. likely to obtain for the duration of the approved course or for the foreseeable future). However, it is recognised that the very nature...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: An application has been received in my Department under the Small Schools Scheme 2007 from the school referred to by the Deputy. All applications received under this scheme are under consideration and the list of successful applicants will be published shortly.

Written Answers — Behaviour Support Service: Behaviour Support Service (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: At the core of the recommendations of the Task Force on Student Behaviour was the establishment of a Behaviour Support Team. The purpose of this Team was envisaged as helping identify problems of student behaviour in second-level schools, leading to the development of strategies to resolve these problems and to facilitate the implementation of these strategies in practice. Since then, and...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I can inform the Deputy that the number of psychologists in the Department has increased from 43 since the establishment of NEPS in 1999 to a current figure of 127, including 4 psychologists assigned to the National Behavioural Support Service. There are also a further 16 Whole-time-equivalent educational psychologists providing service through the Dublin City and County VECs. Taken together,...