Results 11,161-11,180 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for the relevant grant awarding authority. The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application form and supporting documentation, it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student should qualify for a maintenance grant. Officials in my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the Department of Education and Skills recently terminated the contractor's obligation to complete the works at St Anne's National School in Ardclough, Co Kildare. The Department is liaising with the school authorities and has instructed the Design Team to commence work on procuring a completion contractor to complete the works. Subject to no issues arising, it...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Garda Vetting of Personnel (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The arrangements for vetting of teaching and non-teaching staff were introduced in September 2006. In late 2010, my Department issued Circular 0063/2010 which updated and clarified the requirements for Garda vetting as part of recruitment procedures for all teaching and non-teaching positions. Responsibility for complying with the vetting requirements rests with the school authority as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Appointments to State Boards (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 458 and 465 together. Statistics on the representation of women on state boards have been collated centrally since 2003. Data for the years 2003 to 2011, showing the breakdown by gender for State Boards under the aegis of my Department, is set out below as requested by the Deputy. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to ensure that all State...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Subsidised Private Schools (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The information sought by the Deputy is provided in the tables. ALL FEE PAYING SCHOOLS GROSS SALARY COSTS 2011-2012 SCHOOL YEAR School No. School Address Total Gross Teachers Clerical Officers Total Gross SNAs 60090Q Rathdown School Glenageary Co Dublin 1,408,096 60272W The Kings Hospital Palmerstown Dublin 20 2,773,689 46,028.92 72610.09 60320H St Columba's College...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for new student grant applications from the 2012/13 academic year is a matter for the centralised grant awarding authority, Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), a division of the City of Dublin VEC. If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, she/he may...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for new student grant applications from the 2012/13 academic year is a matter for the new centralised grant awarding authority, SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland). The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application form and supporting documentation, it would not be possible for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Scoileanna Oileáin (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: De réir na socruithe foirne atá leagtha amach i gCiorclán na Roinne 0007/12 tá an scoil dá dtagraíonn an Teachta ina scoil aon-oide rangsheomra anois. Cuireadh múinteoir buan a bhí ag fónamh sa scoil ar an bpainéal ath-imlonnaithe don scoilbhliain 2012/13, de réir mar is caighdeánach do mhúinteoir buan ar bith i scoil ina...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The core purpose of the redeployment arrangements is to redeploy a teacher who is surplus in one school to a vacancy in another school. The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to the Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. Teacher allocations to all second level schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand that the school referred to by the Deputy is appealing the decision made by the local authority in relation to the fees being charged in respect of their Summer Works project. Should this appeal be unsuccessful my Department will consider an application for funding to cover these additional costs.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The information sought is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Department recently authorised the design team to begin the pre-qualification of a shortlist of main building contractors in anticipation of the project progressing to tender and construction stage. Thereafter, the project will proceed to tender to the shortlist of suitably qualified contractors. Tender stage on a project of this size normally takes between 6 and 8 months to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I have asked the National Council for Curriculum to advise on this matter and I expect a detailed response very shortly. In addition, formal in-depth research on the impact of Project Maths is ongoing. Following a tendering process, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was awarded a contract to conduct research into the impact of Project Maths on student motivation,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, Education at a Glance uses 2010 data for this part of the report. In mid-2011, I launched the National Strategy to improve Literacy and Numeracy among children and young people 2011 to 2020. One of the early actions implemented under the Strategy was to ask all primary schools to increase the time spent on mathematics by 70 minutes per week from January 2012....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 479 and 480 together. Between November 2009 and November 2010, my Department distributed some €46m directly to primary schools under the national ICT Infrastructure Grant Scheme. The main priority under this scheme is the equipping of each classroom with a teaching computer and digital projector. Once the baseline is in place schools can allocate any...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The NCCA's ICT Framework: A structured approach to ICT in Curriculum and Assessment (2007) has been made available to all primary and post-primary schools. ICT, including digital literacy, is an integral part of a student's on-going education. It harnesses the young person's natural sense of wonder. The primary curriculum promotes the importance of ICT as a resource which enriches the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Bodies Expenditure (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: No new state bodies have been established under the aegis of my Department since 9 March, 2011. The Deputy may wish to note that 1) the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland (QQAAI) is due to be established shortly, this will involve the merger of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI), the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the value of sites acquired for use in the public capital programme from private landowners by my Department amounted to just under €5m in 2010, and €10.25m in 2011. I include Table 1 with details. In addition, during 2010, my Department provided just under €9.13m in funding to a number of Vocational Education Committees to facilitate the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Appointments to State Boards (18 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In accordance with Government policy, expressions of interest have been sought through the Public Appointments Service (PAS) from suitably qualified and experienced persons for consideration for appointment to the following boards of Bodies operating under the aegis of my Department. Leárgas Ltd – The Exchange Bureau The Higher Education Authority The Qualifications and Quality...

Topical Issue Debate: School Transport Provision (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter which is of concern to a number of Deputies. School transport is a very significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on the Department's behalf and covers more than 82 million kilometres annually. Currently, 110,000 children, including more than 8,000 children with special needs, are transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis...