Results 12,061-12,080 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Pupils in primary schools and at Junior Cycle in post primary schools are currently afforded opportunities to participate in water safety training and awareness raising as part of the 'Aquatics' strand of the Physical Education (P.E.) curriculum. The aquatics strand of the P.E. curriculum at Junior Cycle builds on the progress made at primary level, where there is a clear focus on promoting...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I can inform the Deputy that all primary and post primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Where a NEPS psychologist is not assigned to a school, authorities therein may...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that, in primary schools, teaching supports for pupils with special educational needs are provided in two ways. Under the terms of the General Allocation Model (GAM) of teaching supports, schools are resourced to cater for pupils whose educational psychological assessment places them in the high incidence, or less complex, disability category, including children...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Payments (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Under the terms of the student grant scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The eligibility criteria for student grants is reviewed annually and set out in the student grant scheme and the student support regulations each year. The eligibility of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers to other schools that have vacancies. 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.Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The most significant adjustment to teacher pay arising from the recent Government decision on allowances is that new entrant teachers will not receive qualification allowances but will start on a new salary scale, the first point of which is equivalent to the fourth point of the existing scale. This new salary scale will apply in the case of all teachers who are new appointees to teaching on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Centre Network (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department has been dependent for many years on IT systems to provide a range of services to its customers, including schools and school employees. A number of systems have been developed over the past two decades, leading to disparate data stores. In an effort to address this issue, my Department's IT Unit has already taken steps to implement a technical solution to allow designated...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: At this point I do not propose to give any specific commitment on the allocation of teachers to schools for the 2013/14 school year. The number of teaching posts that we can afford to fund in schools is a matter that I will have to consider with my colleagues in Cabinet in the context of the next budget. The Government will endeavour to protect frontline education services as best as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The cost of producing and posting the fortnightly payslips to the approximate 94,000 school employees and pensioners now amounts to approximately €1.17 million per annum. The printing and packing of payslips for serving and retired school employees was transferred from my Department, to the Revenue Commissioner's Print and Mail Centre with effect from mid-February 2012. This...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (15 Nov 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). Officials in my Department have confirmed with SUSI that documentation requested from the student referred to by the Deputy has been received and that his application is currently awaiting...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Consultations (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Information relevant to the Deputy's question is currently being compiled. A further reply will issue to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in an area. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice. As the Deputy will be aware, in June 2011, I announced that 20 new post-primary schools are to be established in the coming years across a number...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (15 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority, that in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy a grant has been awarded and an award letter issued on 2nd November, 2012.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 108 together. The situation in relation to the 66,000 applications to Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, is as follows. Some 22,000 are complete, with some 12,000 either awarded or provisionally awarded and some 10,000 refused. Once awarded, payment is dependent on the verification of attendance by the institution and the submission of bank...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy asked a number of questions and I will try to reply to them seriatim. I have been in contact with SUSI. I have not had physical meetings but the Department's officials have had such meetings. I have spoken to the chief executive of the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee, CDVEC. Ten minutes ago I checked with the principal officer in the Department by telephone to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy might not have heard me or I might not have articulated it well enough, but while a cost benefit analysis was not specifically carried out prior to the award of the contract, it was considered that outsourcing was an appropriate solution for the document management process. That is the activity that is taking place. The reason was the peak nature of this once-in-a-year event for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In response to Deputy McConalogue's question, Abtran has 79 staff and is taking on 50 extra staff. Abtran assures me it is satisfied that will be sufficient to process the applications. I will be constantly monitoring the volume of processing taking place. Should more staff be necessary, I will ensure Abtran takes on extra staff to do the task for which it has been contracted. The story...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In some cases, even when the third party is a public representative who has been asked by the citizen in question to make an inquiry, the interpretation by the Data Protection Commissioner, who gives instructions to the relevant bodies, can frequently be that without express permission conveyed by the constituent a service agency cannot share information with a third party. It is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will inquire about the details of that. There may be a problem in providing bank details in advance. I will, however, make the inquiry and get back to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 106 and 107 together. Guidance is a whole-school activity and not just a matter for school guidance counsellors alone. Under existing arrangements each school develops a whole-school guidance plan as a means of supporting the needs of its students. I acknowledge that bringing guidance provision within quota is challenging for schools but this must be seen...