Results 12,081-12,100 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

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

Ruairi Quinn: I will deal with the last part of the Deputy's question first. The working party that was established earlier this year hopes to complete its draft report by the end of the month. It will then be circulated to the interested parties for comment and therefore we will have it very early in the new year. That is the timetable to which we are working. It is an interdepartmental working group...

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

Ruairi Quinn: I will certainly publish it. The report will be sent to the various interested parties for comment and any changes, among other things. It will then be finalised and we will publish it as soon as possible after that. On the other matters the Deputy raised, let me outline what is available for school communities from the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. The support of the...

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

Ruairi Quinn: I have had a number of meetings, one of which was a recent informal meeting at the exhibition in the RDS on third level options. I do not accept the assertions in the quotations the Deputy read from the letter to which he referred. Some smaller schools at post-primary level have had difficulties in regard to the matter but the larger schools still have the service of full guidance teachers...

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

Ruairi Quinn: Yes.

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

Ruairi Quinn: There are two issues here. The first is that we must recognise that this measure was introduced in order to comply with the necessity to reduce expenditure in the overall education budget. I had two choices: I could have disimproved the pupil-teacher ratio in second level schools to achieve the target or I could have referred back to the principals, who have a major leadership role in our...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I published the framework for the junior cycle on 4 October. All schools are to develop their junior cycle programme mindful of the principles, key skills and the 24 statements of learning. Subjects, short courses and, where relevant, priority learning units will be developed according to agreed specifications. The framework includes a number of measures to support and quality assure...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As Deputies are aware, on Thursday afternoon the House will have an opportunity to debate the junior certificate cycle reform in some substance over two hours. There is also a question further down the Order Paper that addresses some of the questions that have been put in supplementary form by Deputy McConalogue. Let us step back a little in terms of history. The National Council for...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: When the system is completed and students take between eight and ten subjects, the examinations on those ultimately will be marked by the teachers in question. Those examinations will account for 60% of the marks for a particular subject and the balance of 40% will be made up from project work the students do in second and third years. The schools and the subject teachers will be sent...

Other Questions: Departmental Reports (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The reality of the economic situation and the public expenditure corrections which must be made in the coming years present challenges across all areas of public expenditure. It must be acknowledged that the sector has accommodated significant increases in student numbers at a time when both funding and staff numbers have reduced. As the Deputy will be aware, the Higher Education...

Other Questions: Departmental Reports (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: First, I want to pay tribute to the third level sector because, despite declining current account support from the Department of Education and Skills, which will continue through this year, the number of students entering the college system is increasing. By and large, outcomes are still good and there has not been a marked deterioration in standards. The Deputy will be aware that the HEA...

Other Questions: Departmental Reports (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As I said, I will outline my approach to the documents that have now entered the public domain to the main stakeholders at a meeting on Thursday. The Higher Education Authority will have until the beginning of March 2013 to finalise its response to the submissions it has received and the documentation that has already come in. In addition, I will confirm and elaborate on the national policy...

Other Questions: Third Level Sector Reform (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Reforms in the higher education area include academic staff delivering an additional hour per week resulting in more than 100,000 additional lecturing hours which, if they had to be paid for, would amount to an estimated €8 million annually. Since the Croke Park agreement, the student-to-staff ratio in higher education institutions has increased by 18%. The employment control...

Other Questions: Third Level Sector Reform (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: If the Deputy will bear with me, I have to hand a note which hopefully will provide him with the information he seeks. The anticipated question was on what savings have been achieved under the employment control framework, which came in just before the present Government took office but which is within approximately the same time period. Under the employment control framework, core staff...

Other Questions: Third Level Sector Reform (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will attempt to get the figures rather than hazard a guess across the floor. A huge increase in productivity is evident when one matches the reduction in funding with the increase of student numbers. That has possibly resulted in the deterioration in quality of some services, although that has not been brought to my attention. It certainly shows there is an extraordinary capacity to...

Other Questions: Third Level Sector Reform (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The documents were put on the website on Friday evening and the hard copies can be downloaded. The committee can decide if they want to discuss them with the Higher Education Authority. I share Deputy Wallace's concerns, and there is a sense in many smaller legal firms, which would be well able to provide legal service or collaborate with others, that the big five seem to have been enabled...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The new framework for junior cycle is based on advice given to me by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. Teacher organisations are represented on both the NCCA council and the NCCA's junior cycle review committee. In addition, I have established a group of education partners to discuss and support implementation of the new junior cycle. Bodies representing second...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Let us be clear about this issue. Every organisation across the education spectrum welcomed the proposed changes in the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA. The objection raised by teachers was not to the content of the new curriculum but to the decision by me to stand down a State examination, the junior certificate examination, because I no longer considered it relevant....

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I intend to do so.

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: If I may, I will address Deputy O'Donovan's comments first. In September 2011, a conference - its website was www.transitions.ie - examined the bridge between second and third levels. Three weaknesses were found. Two were on our side of the equation, as it were, and one was on the universities' side, namely, the 300% increase in offers for courses. Compared with ten years ago, the choices...

Estimates for Public Services 2012: Motion (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I move:That leave be given by the Dáil to introduce the following Supplementary Estimates for the service of the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2012:–Vote 12 — Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary Estimate). Vote 20 — Garda Síochána (Supplementary Estimate). Vote 22 — Courts Service (Supplementary Estimate). Vote 31 —...