Results 9,941-9,960 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: As I advised the Deputy on 12th December 2006, I recently announced a series of measures to assist primary school principals with particularly significant levels of non-teaching duties. The new measures include that when a school with a Principal and four or more mainstream class teachers also has a specialist autism unit, established under approval of the National Council for Special...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The appointment and assignment of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) is a matter for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), subject to overall staffing limits. There are 3 SENO posts allocated to deal with matters relating to children with special educational needs in the county Kerry region. One of these is currently vacant and the NCSE has advised my Department that...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I can inform the Deputy that three NEPS educational psychologists are assigned to Primary and Post-Primary Schools in Co. Kerry in the current academic year. The Deputy will, of course, be aware that all primary and post-primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) or through the Scheme for Commissioning...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 479 and 487 together. The Property Management Section of the Office of Public Works (OPW) which acts on behalf of the Department in the acquisition of sites generally, was requested to source a site for the school in question. The site identified as most suitable, comprises two separate vendors. The acquisition of a site from one of these vendors is complete....

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I can confirm that the management authority of the school to which the Deputy refers has applied for funding under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme 2007 to establish an autistic unit. Applications under this scheme are currently being assessed and I will be announcing the list of successful applicants shortly.

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: An application has been received in my Department from the school referred to by the Deputy under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme 2007. My Department is currently assessing all applications received from schools for funding under this programme. The list of successful applicants will be published as soon as possible.

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 482 and 488 together. I am conscious of the fact that Lucan is one of the fastest growing areas in the Country. In light of this, the Department has expanded capacity significantly at both primary and post primary level to cater for existing and newly emerging demands for pupil places. With regard to post primary capacity specifically, a new school for...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Department has acknowledged the need to relocate the existing primary school referred to by the Deputy to a greenfield site. The acquisition of a site for this development is being actively pursued. When this matter has been finalised, progress on the proposed project can be considered under the School Building and Modernisation Programme.

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Improving services for children with special needs has been and continues to be a major priority for this Government. Major progress has been made in recent years. Indeed, there are now 15,000 adults in our schools working solely with children with special needs, compared to just a fraction of this a few years back. As well as providing for huge increases in staff, we have also improved the...

Written Answers — Inquiry into Child Abuse: Inquiry into Child Abuse (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The person in question has sought to have an institution in which she was resident as a child included in the Schedule to the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 for the purposes of making an application to the Redress Board. Section 4 of the Act provides that the Minister for Education and Science may, by order, insert additional institutions in the Schedule to the Act. For an...

Written Answers — Third Level Fees: Third Level Fees (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I understand that the Deputy is referring to a further education course in a College of Further and Higher Education in Northern Ireland. As the Deputy will know, in August 2006 my Department and the Department of Enterprise Trade & Employment made an agreement with the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland to ensure that access to further education courses for Southern...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Stage 4/5 (Detailed Design and Bill of Quantities) is currently being examined by the Department. When this process is complete the proposed project will proceed to tender.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (27 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 — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme. DEIS will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. As a result of the identification and review...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 494 to 496, inclusive, together. 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...

Written Answers — Language Support Programme: Language Support Programme (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy is aware, I indicated at the conference of the Irish Primary Principals Network on 26th January, 2007 that the two teacher rule and the two-year rule will no longer apply. The Deputy will also be aware that recently I announced the schools which are to benefit from the 200 extra language support posts provided for in the 2007 Estimates. These extra 200 posts will bring the...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I wish to advise the Deputy that the home tuition scheme provides funding to parents to provide education at home for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme was extended in recent years to facilitate tuition for children awaiting a suitable educational placement. An educational placement is available for the person referred to by...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Appropriate classroom equipment is provided as part of extension/refurbishment projects and new school buildings funded by my Department. Under the furniture and equipment element of my Departments School Building and Modernisation Programme funding is available for the provision of additional equipment at developing schools or the replacement of outdated/damaged equipment. A special PE...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Office of Public Works (OPW), which generally acts on behalf of my Department on the acquisition of sites for schools, has been asked to source a suitable site for St. Andrew's in Lucan. On foot of an advertisement a number of proposals were received and a technical report on these proposals has just recently been forwarded to my Department for consideration. When a suitable site has...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (27 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I can confirm to the Deputy that an application for capital funding to provide a PE hall was received from the school in 1999. 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 multi-annual School Building and Modernisation programme.