Results 9,881-9,900 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — School Completion Programme: School Completion Programme (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The School Completion Programme which, until now, has operated in 82 sites nationally, is in the process of being extended to all urban/town primary schools and second-level schools participating in DEIS, the new Action Plan for Educational Inclusion which are not already benefiting from these services during 2006/2007 school year. Forty three additional clusters (including both primary and...

Written Answers — School Completion Programme: School Completion Programme (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The School Completion Programme which, until now, has operated in 82 sites nationally, is in the process of being extended to all urban/town primary schools and second-level schools participating in DEIS, the new Action Plan for Educational Inclusion which are not already benefiting from these services during 2006/2007 school year. Forty three additional clusters (including both primary and...

Written Answers — Education Schemes: Education Schemes (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Last month, I met with the group which represent this unit along with the other units in the pilot scheme. Officials in my Department have since followed up with a further meeting with the group to discuss how best to progress the permanent status sought by the units and are exploring how best to proceed in this regard.

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The position regarding the full decentralisation of 300 posts to Mullingar is that I understand that the Office of Public Works (OPW) has made significant progress towards the acquisition of a site for permanent office accommodation for my Department. The OPW has indicated to the Decentralisation Implementation Group that it estimates that this accommodation will be available for occupation...

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

Mary Hanafin: The mainstream staffing of a primary school for a particular school year is determined by reference to the enrolment of the school on the 30th September of the previous school year and by reference to a staffing schedule. This staffing schedule for the 2006/07 school year is outlined in Primary Circular 0023/2006 which was issued to all primary schools. In the current school year (2006/07)...

Written Answers — Teaching Qualifications: Teaching Qualifications (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The person referred to by the Deputy is seeking payment of arrears under the Part-Time Workers Act 2001. Arrears entitlements conferred on casual/non-casual teachers under the terms of the Act apply to qualified teachers only. A teacher in a voluntary secondary school is considered qualified if they can be registered as a secondary teacher, i.e. they must have a degree with teaching subjects...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I can advise the Deputy that the pupils to whom the Deputy refers are due to enrol in an autism class being newly provided for within a national school in Kilkenny and that a teacher has been appointed in this regard. Preparations are currently being made to accommodate the class within the school campus. The Deputy will be aware of my commitment to ensuring that all children, including those...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Caretaking staff in schools are employed by the individual school authorities. My Department provides funding under two separate schemes towards the cost of employing these staff. One such scheme is the 1979 scheme for the employment of full-time caretakers in primary schools under which my Department meets the full cost of pay. In 2006 I introduced, with the concurrence of the Minister for...

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

Mary Hanafin: Information in relation to class sizes is provided in the annual census of primary schools. The census for the current school year (2006/2007) is currently being worked on. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that this Government has halved the number of children in Longford in classes of 30 or more and has reduced the number in classes of 35 or more by 75%. The details of average class size in...

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

Mary Hanafin: Information in relation to class sizes is provided in the annual census of primary schools. The census for the current school year (2006/2007) is currently being worked on. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that this Government has significantly reduced the number of children in Westmeath in classes of 30 or more and has cut the number in classes of 35 or more by 75%. The details of average...

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

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 524 and 525 together. I wish to advise the Deputy that the information sought in respect of the number of newly appointed resource teachers in each of the past five years in primary schools in Counties Westmeath and Longford is not readily available in my Department. As the Deputy is aware, there has been enormous progress made over the past number of years in...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 526 and 527 together. There are currently 56 Special Need Assistants (whole-time equivalents) employed in primary schools in County Longford with 159 employed in primary schools in County Westmeath. As the Deputy is aware, there are over three thousand two hundred primary schools in the country. The compilation of information regarding the number of SNAs...

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

Mary Hanafin: The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the following table. Language Support Teachers — County Longford School Year Number of Teachers 2002/2003 Nil 2003/2004 3 2004/2005 2 2005/2006 4 2006/2007 (to date) 9

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

Mary Hanafin: The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the following table. Language Support Teachers — County Westmeath School Year Number of Teachers 2002/2003 8 2003/2004 8 2004/2005 9 2005/2006 11 2006/2007 (to date) 18

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: At the outset, I want to assure the Deputy that the Department is anxious to provide a long term accommodation solution for the school to which he refers. In this regard, the Property Management Section of the Office of Public Works, which acts on behalf of the Department in relation to site acquisitions generally, was asked to explore the possibility of acquiring a site for the school....

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

Mary Hanafin: I can confirm that the Department is in receipt of an application for major capital funding from the management authority of the school to which the Deputy refers. The application was assessed in accordance with published prioritisation criteria for large scale works and was assigned a band 2 rating. Progress on the proposed works will be considered in the context of the School Building and...

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

Mary Hanafin: The schools referred to by the Deputy will amalgamate on the 1st September 2007. My Department has already granted the proposed amalgamated school a concessionary post. This post was granted in the 2006/2007 school year in order to allow the amalgamation to proceed.

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

Mary Hanafin: I can confirm to the Deputy that an application for capital funding to provide a PE hall has been received from the school to which the Deputy refers. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building works and progress on the project is being considered in the context of the School Building and Modernisation Programme from...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (20 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Deputy will be aware that my Department implemented a general allocation system of learning support/resource teachers to mainstream primary schools in September 2005. The system is intended to cater for children with high-incidence special education needs such as mild general learning disability and learning support needs, including dyslexia. It is a matter for each school to identify the...

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

Mary Hanafin: An application for a new build school in respect of the school referred to by the Deputy has been assessed and the long term projected staffing, on which the accommodation needs will be based, has been determined and notified to the school authority. The current position regarding the site acquisition is that the Office of Public Works (OPW), which generally acts on behalf of the Department...