Results 10,061-10,080 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: There will be further increases next year and the following year. To reassure the Deputies about the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, the Bill, in subsection (4A), states that the appeals committee can uphold a complaint in relation to a permanent exclusion of a student from a school if the student or the parent of the student can show that subsection (1) or (4) of section 24 of the 2000 Act has...

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The appeals committee can find in favour of the student.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: It is not because it puts the onus on the school to fulfil its obligations under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 because it knows they will lose if it does not tell the parent and students what are their rights under that Act.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: On briefing, the National Parents' Council-Primary was invited to attend the briefing and it did not attend. I understand the officials spoke to Fionnuala Kilfeather about it.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The cherry-picking of students is an issue in a number of schools in different areas. Each of us has experienced this regarding children with special needs, Travellers and immigrant children. However, it should be borne in mind that all schools are not only obliged to have an enrolment policy but they are also obliged to conform with all other legislation such as that dealing with equality...

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: They are probably covered by the provision whereby a child does not have to be taken until he or she is aged six. Traditionally, children attend school from an early age in Ireland. In small rural schools, they are sometimes taken in on their fourth birthday to ensure the numbers are maintained. When the school enrolment issue arose, my predecessor, Deputy Noel Dempsey, took an initiative...

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: If an application is made in writing, a formal letter decreeing acceptance or refusal should issue. If the application is put on the long finger by the school and a formal reply is not issued, the appeals committee will deem that to be a refusal. I accept the point that parents should be aware of that and I will examine how information about this can be disseminated. As Deputy O'Sullivan...

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: In some of the amendments we are looking for more flexibility but in this one, we are trying to take it away. The word "may" at least allows the appeal to continue if there is a belief there might be an issue worthy of consideration bearing in mind facilitation will have taken place before the matter ever gets to appeal. The committee might consider a number of elements of the appeal are...

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: This is another one of those occasions where there is cross-reference to the Education (Welfare) Act which states, in the context of a student being expelled and the 20 day period kicking into play, it is without prejudice to the right of a board of management to take such other reasonable measures as it considers appropriate to ensure that good order and discipline are maintained in the...

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The obvious measure would be a suspension. One could suspend without notice whereas one can only expel with 20 days notice. One can make the decision to expel, give the 20 days notification and in the interim, decide to suspend the student forthwith.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: It certainly can happen in practice. I cannot say I know of individual cases. Where a serious incident occurs, I can understand that a school would not want to have the student in the place. It could use suspension relying on the Education (Welfare) Act to do that.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: No. The Act states a school can take such reasonable measures as it considers appropriate to ensure good order and discipline are maintained and that the safety of students is secured. This would allow it to do that.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I know what the Deputy is asking.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: My advice is that the school can expel the student and, pending the expulsion taking effect, can suspend him or her. In other words, the student is out no matter what happens.

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I move amendment No. 16: In page 9, to delete lines 20 and 21 and substitute the following: "(2) The Education Acts 1878 to 2001 and sections 2 to 5 may be cited together as the Education Acts 1878 to 2007.". This was drawn to my attention by Deputy O'Sullivan on Committee Stage in regard to the citation of legislation. The provision regarding the collective citation of legislation is not as...

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Report and Final Stages (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I acknowledged him by name.

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Definitive results on population are not available from Census 2006 yet, however, Population and Migration Estimates published by the Central Statistics Office in April 2006 give a figure of 189,600 women in Ireland age 70 and over. Information on the means and sources of income of this group is not generally available but work done in my Department in relation to women of pension age...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 263 to 265, inclusive, together. Major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years. There are now 4,000 more primary teachers than there were in 2002. The average class size in our primary schools is 24 and there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc. Children with special needs and...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: An application was submitted by the school referred to by the Deputy under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme 2007. On Monday, 5 March 2007, I announced details of the schools to receive funding under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme 2007. The application from the school to which the Deputy refers was successful.

Written Answers — Speech and Language Therapists: Speech and Language Therapists (7 Mar 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the following tabular statement. In May 2002, my Department approved the provision of 175 additional therapy training places to tackle shortages of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists as identified in the report "Current and Future Supply and Demand Conditions in the Labour Market for Certain...