Results 10,061-10,080 of 13,291 for speaker:Joe McHugh

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 to 106, inclusive, together. Enabling children with Special Educational Needs including Autism to receive an education appropriate to their needs is a priority for Government. There is now unprecedented investment in special education. The Government is spending nearly one euro in every five of the education budget on special education –...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: I wish to advise the Deputy that in the case of all new schools as well as replacement schools, it is general practice to include a Special Education Needs Base (SEN Base) in the accommodation brief, unless local circumstances indicate that it will not be required. Typically, a two classroom SEN Base is provided in new primary schools and a two or four classroom SEN Base is provided in new...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school.   The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in Department Circular 0030/2014,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: On 27 March I announced the trialling of the School Inclusion Model, a new model of support for students with special educational and additional care needs, which is being piloted in 75 schools in the Kildare/Wicklow/South Dublin region in the current school year.  The School Inclusion Model aims to build schools’ capacity and to provide the right supports at the right...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service Staff (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: In the event an educational psychologist at the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is absent due to leave or maternity leave the schools concerned are given access to the Scheme for Commissioning of Psychologist Assessments (SCPA). At the link is a copy of the Scheme for the Deputy's information. ">SCPA Scheme

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Psychological Assessments Waiting Times (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: My Department’s Wellbeing Policy and Framework for practice has given recognition to the importance of promoting wellbeing in education.  It outlines a comprehensive, whole-school approach to the promotion of wellbeing and positive mental health. It focuses on the whole school community, as well as groups and individual young people with identified needs.  Schools promote...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Schooling (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: The Department of Education and Skills provides for the education of children through the provision of recognised schools. Recognised schools must fulfil a number of conditions regarding curriculum, inspection and other matters. The Irish constitution recognises the family as the primary educator of the child and defines duties and responsibilities for parents and the State in the education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the Additional Accommodation project at the School to which he refers was approved to proceed to the Planning Application Stage in early October, 2019. As responsibility for the delivery of the project has been devolved to the school, it is now a matter for the Board of Management to advance the project.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: I am pleased to have been able to provide for a further 2.5% increase in standard capitation funding for primary and post-primary schools that will apply from the start of the 2020/21 school year. The combined increases given in 2019 and 2020 mean that circa 40% restoration will be achieved.  In addition to the increase above the estimated cost of restoring the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions Entry Requirements (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: Universities and institutes of technology, under the Universities Act 1997 and the Institutes of Technology Acts, are autonomous bodies and, as such, have responsibility for their own academic affairs, including issues relating to the admission of students. Therefore, it is a matter for the institutes themselves to set admissions requirements for individual programmes of education and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the building project for the school to which he refers is being devolved for delivery to Cavan & Monaghan Educational Training Board (CMETB). The first step in this process is the execution of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) between my Department and CMETB. This is currently being arranged. Once the SLA is in place, the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Data (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: Firstly, it is important to clarify that the appropriate term is special class and not 'unit' when referring to the provision of special classes in mainstream schools. 11 special classes for emotional behavioural disturbance, 8 in mainstream primary schools and 3 in mainstream post primary schools will be provided for the 2019/20 school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Services Staff (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: The estimated first and full year cost of permitting ETB, Community & Comprehensive schools with an enrolment of 700 or more to fill Caretaker vacancies provided they have less than 2 is €0.7 million and €2.1 million respectively.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Services Staff (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: The estimated first and full year cost of permitting ETB, Community & Comprehensive schools with an enrolment of 500-625 to fill Secretary vacancies provided they have less than 1.5 and enrolments of 626-699 to fill vacancies provided they have less than 2 is circa €0.3 million and €0.9 million respectively.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Data (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: I propose to take Questions Nos. 122 to 124, inclusive, together. The provision of education for children with special needs is an ongoing priority for Government. Currently, we spend almost 20% of the total Education Vote or €1.9bn on supporting children with special needs. The numbers of special classes, special education teachers and Special Needs Assistants are at unprecedented...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Correspondence (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: The correspondence requested by the Deputy is not readily available.  I will arrange for it to be forwarded directly to the Deputy when the information requested has been compiled.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school.   The NCSE allocates SNA support to schools in accordance with the criteria set out in Department Circular 0030/2014,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Catchment Areas (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data in a way that takes account of the significant local and regional variations in demographic trends and enrolment projections, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. Using school planning area boundaries within my Department’s Geographic Information System (GIS) allows...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Playgrounds (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: I wish to advise the Deputy that the most appropriate funding stream for the works referred to is the Summer Works Scheme (SWS). The SWS is designed to allow primary and post primary schools to carry out small and medium scale building works that will improve and upgrade existing school buildings. It is noted that the school in question submitted an application for Mechanical...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Data (17 Oct 2019)

Joe McHugh: The current status of projects being delivered is listed on a county by county basis on my Department’s website at www.education.ie and updated on a monthly basis to reflect their progress through the various stages of capital appraisal, site acquisition, design, tender and construction. It is not possible to give an average timeline for all development stages as this varies...