Results 11,161-11,180 of 19,632 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gender Recognition (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: Equity and inclusivity are fundamental principles at the heart of our education system. These are enshrined in the  Mission of the Department  and  the  Statement of Strategy published last year. The aim of my Department  is to develop a system that welcomes and meaningfully engages all students and strengthens a culture of inclusion. The Programme for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the school in question, with Roll Number 16816N, closed in August 2019. When a school building becomes vacant as a result of closure/amalgamation/replacement, the future use of the old building is in the first instance a matter for the property owner. When the property owner applies to the Minister for permission to either use the property for community purposes or to sell...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education.  In the current school year over 147,900 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: Under Project Ireland 2040, the education sector will receive a total of approximately €4.4 billion capital investment over the period 2021-2025. This significant investment allows us to move forward with certainty on our ambitious plans and deliver high quality building projects, with a real focus on sustainability, for school communities across Ireland. This investment will build on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme. The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning to Tender and Construction. The Brief for this project is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Defective Building Materials (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: A major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is to be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme. The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning to Tender and Construction. The Brief for this project is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is not in receipt of an application for funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme, from the school in question.  It is open to the school authorities to submit an application for assessment and my officials have sent the necessary forms and information to the school authorities to enable them to do so. The purpose...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 139 and 140 together. As the Deputy will be aware, the organisation referred to by the Deputy was established in 2013 to disburse the contributions of €110m (€111.38m including interest) provided by the religious congregations following the publication of the Ryan Report, by funding approved services to support the needs of former residents who,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Correspondence (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the deputy that the issue of road safety measures outside the vested site areas of schools on public roads, such as road signage, traffic calming measures etc., is a matter, for the relevant Local Authority. Local Authorities have the power to decide on road safety measures outside schools to ensure that measures are in place to protect the safety of local school children. My...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: With respect to the enquiry concerning restrictions and regulations on private for-profit companies operating in schools there is guidance concerning the usage of school buildings for non-educational use. These Guidelines on the use of School Buildings outside of School Hours were published in October 2017 and are available on the Department's website. By way of background, the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: The school referred to by the Deputy was established in 2019 to meet emerging requirements for special school places in the area. The school is co-located on its permanent site with another school in the area. My Department will be continuing its engagement with the patron regarding the school's long term accommodation needs. Both schools are under the patronage of Dublin Dun Laoghaire ETB.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department provides funding to all recognised schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs including heating, lighting etc. and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. These grants may be regarded as a common grant from which the Board of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (1 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing these universal supports, the DEIS programme addresses concentrated educational disadvantage at school level in a targeted and equitable way across the primary and post-primary sector. Schools...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Transport (2 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: The school transport scheme is a significant operation, managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, more than 147,900 children, including more than 18,000 children and young people with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Transport (2 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: The Deputy is correct. Some 147,900 young people benefit from the scheme. He is also right that the review is a considerable body of work. Phase 1 has been completed. The consultation alone involved consulting with thousands of parents. It also involved consultation with stakeholders, providers in the area and with best practice with regard to what is happening in other European...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Transport (2 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I appreciate the Deputy's points. As a consequence of what was introduced last year, we have seen a 25% increase in provision of places for students on the school bus system, that is, 25,600 places and there has been a 26% increase in the allocation of special education places. There has been a considerable increase in availability of places in the school transport system. I take the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Textbooks (2 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department’s statement of strategy sets out the vision and mission of the Department for an educational system where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential. Its goal is to ensure equity of opportunity in education and that all pupils are supported to fulfil their potential. Since June 2020, and over the past...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Textbooks (2 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I appreciate the Deputy's support and want to acknowledge that there has been almost unanimous support within the Chamber for this measure. He is correct and I am conscious that the information needs to be in schools soon so that they have the opportunity to do what needs to be done in terms of the scheme. I recognise that schools will need to have this have this information available to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Textbooks (2 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: Schools will have the autonomy to purchase the books from their nearest and local provider, or whomever they have an existing relationship with. I am conscious that many schools have strong relationships with their local bookshop or local book provider and that autonomy will continue. The schools will make the decision as to where they will source the books. The funding that is being...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (2 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I acknowledge the Deputy's engagement on, and interest in, this particular project. I am pleased to advise that the project on a greenfield site was approved for delivery by my Department for the school in question. The project provides for four mainstream classrooms and one special education needs, SEN, base under the Department's timber modular framework. The site was transferred from...