Results 10,081-10,100 of 19,632 for speaker:Norma Foley

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: The Senator is 100% correct. We have now seen the single largest investment in the DEIS programme of €17 million and it will be €32 million next year. This has allowed the biggest number of schools ever to enter the DEIS programme and it means that one in four students is attending a DEIS programme supported school. That is as we want it. I am aware of the digital library...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: We will be pushing forward as quickly as we can with looking at other measures to level the playing pitch for students. I am happy to specifically look at the digital library service again to see what opportunities we have. It is correct that it is tied up in reviews, but I will look at it to see what scope we have.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: I do not want to mislead the Senator so I will come back to her with something definitive on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: I appreciate that and I acknowledge the excellent work of the local authorities in respect of the library service. Terrific links have been established between our schools and the library service and, in fact, we have invited schools to liaise with the library service about types and suitability of books under the €20 million allocation. I also acknowledge the manner in which many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: As a collective, we are all conscious of the world in which we live these days. We are aware that many of our students are gaining access to information, as I said previously, that is not supervised or appropriate and is not monitored. They are gaining that access via their mobile phones and other sources. It is important that students are equipped to face the challenges of the world in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: Again I would say to Senator Mullen that there is a public consultation period. I invite people to share their thoughts and opinions. However, I am equally clear in saying to Senator Mullen that there will be a syllabus formulated from the public consultation process and out of what we know students need to have access to in terms of information. Schools will be obliged to follow the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: I thank the Chair.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: I thank the Chair and know it is an area of specific interest to him and the committee. I was very keen to progress it and conscious that this type of support is not available in primary schools at present. This €5 million gives us this opportunity and we have begun the work as to how it will be rolled out and how we will work it through and pilot it in primary schools with an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: Yes. On the review of the 2013 action plan, the steering group, as the Chair is aware, is being led by Dr. Noel Purdey of Stranmillis University College in Antrim. There has been considerable consultation around this. As I did initially, I wish to acknowledge the enormous body of work it has done. There was a presentation on the thoughts and recommendations and the body of work the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: Please repeat the question. I did not hear it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: With regard to the Cork Life Centre, the key consideration in this review, which relates not only to that centre but to all such centres, is securing their sustainability. That will very much be the focus. The review will cover many of the issues Deputies Ó Laoghaire and O'Sullivan and many others have raised with me at different times. I acknowledge the considerable progress being...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: The Chairman is correct and I acknowledge his ongoing interest and that of the wider committee in Cork Life Centre. The centre asked for a number of clarifications regarding the report and I indicated we would look at all of them. They were taken on board and subsequently published and made available.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: The prompting of the Chair-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: As Senator Dolan said, we seem to have loads of reviews but they are all positive because they are all bodies of work that really need to be done. In terms of school transport, this committee knows well, as I know, the importance of ensuring we have maximum number of access points for students. There is a huge body of work here, similar to anti-bullying. There were thousands of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Issues: Engagement with the Minister for Education (12 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: I can confirm that this is part of the review. Regarding the cut-off point of 70 for school bus drivers, it is a policy decision of Bus Éireann. However, the company has informed us that it is kept under review.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Mental Health Services (18 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: The provision of child and adolescent mental health services lies specifically within the remit of the Department of Health and the HSE. HSE Primary Care Psychology Services and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) provide a range of clinical support to children and young people with mental health needs. However, the Department of Education also plays an important role in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (18 Oct 2022)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the past school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m in 2021. The purpose of my Department's...