Results 1,201-1,220 of 4,869 for speaker:Seán Haughey

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (4 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and the position in relation to Scoil Chonaill Naofa, Bunbeg, County Donegal. Modernising...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (4 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I thank Senator McCarthy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the strategy for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the current position on Kinsale community school in particular. Modernising facilities in...

Seanad: Cancer Services (4 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: One in three people in this country will be diagnosed with some form of cancer at some stage in their lives. There are approximately 22,000 new cases each year. Overall, the number of newly diagnosed cancers is increasing by 6% to 7% annually and unless major reversal of trends occur in the near future, the number is likely to double in the next 20 years. It is against this background that...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (5 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: Under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme, a pupil is eligible for transport if s/he resides 4.8 kilometres or more from her/his local post primary education centre. The scheme is not designed to facilitate parents who choose to send their children to a post-primary centre outside of the catchment area in which they reside. However, children who are fully...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (5 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: I propose to take Questions Nos. 205 and 206 together. The costs in school transport, a service delivered by Bus Eireann on behalf of my Department, have been increasing arising from a range of issues such as: in ensuring a comfortable and safe transport service for over 135,000 children daily travelling to and from school, measures to ensure the highest standards including the phasing out of...

Written Answers — FÁS Training Programmes: FÁS Training Programmes (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: This matter concerns a day-to-day issue for FÁS, who I understand will contact the person concerned in the near future.

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: I propose to take Questions Nos. 492, 548 and 555 together. The costs in school transport, a service delivered by Bus Éireann on behalf of my Department, have been increasing arising from a range of issues such as: In ensuring a comfortable and safe transport service for over 135,000 children daily travelling to and from school (breakdown by county not readily available), measures to ensure...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: The detailed information requested by the Deputy for County Clare is not readily available. In the region of 135,000 pupils nationally avail of school transport services including over 8,000 pupils with special educational needs and approximately 9,000 pupils who are issued with tickets by Bus Éireann for travel on public service buses and rail services including DART services. The...

Written Answers — FÁS Training Programmes: FÁS Training Programmes (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: As I indicated in my reply on 26 February 2009, FÁS in addition to their own delivery of courses, already contract with other bodies for provision of relevant courses. VECs and Institutes of Technology can bid for the provision of appropriate courses. As the Deputy is aware, FÁS operates under the aegis of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and her Department....

Written Answers — Home-School Liaison Scheme: Home-School Liaison Scheme (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: The two post primary schools to which the Deputy refers are among a number of schools that were judged by an independent identification process in 2005 not to have a sufficient level of disadvantage among their pupils to warrant their inclusion in DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. The next identification process is scheduled to...

Written Answers — Disadvantaged Status: Disadvantaged Status (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: For the information of the Deputy a list of the Post Primary schools that qualified for DEIS is hereby given. Roll No. Name Address County 70420R Carlow Vocational School Kilkenny Road, Carlow Carlow 70430U Vocational School Muine Beag Muine Bheag, Carlow Carlow 70360C St. Mogue's College Bawnboy, Co Cavan Cavan 70380I Cavan Vocational School Cootehill Rd., Cavan Cavan 70830N Ennis...

Written Answers — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and an integrated School Support Programme (SSP). DEIS brings together and builds upon a number of existing interventions in schools with concentrated levels of disadvantage. There are currently 876 schools in DEIS, 673...

Written Answers — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: Whole-school evaluations (WSE) were conducted in the schools referred to by the Deputy during 2008 and the evaluation reports have been published and can be accessed by the public on my Department's website www.education.ie. While the effectiveness of Home School Community Liaison that have operated in the schools has been acknowledged in the published WSE reports, the two post primary...

Written Answers — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: As the Deputy is aware, the next identification process for disadvantaged schools is due to take place at the end of the current DEIS programme which is 2010. A Steering group has already been established within my Department and work has commenced work in examining the socio-economic and other variables that collectively best predict achievement. The Group will be taking into account...

Written Answers — Education Schemes: Education Schemes (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: The number of approved PLC places is set at its current level of 30,188 in recognition of the need to plan and control numbers and to carefully manage expenditure within the context of overall educational policy and provision. In terms of meeting the demand for further education, my Department, in conjunction with the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Social and Family Affairs...

Written Answers — Education Schemes: Education Schemes (10 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: In December 2006, my Department began negotiations with management and unions in relation to Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) provision in the further education sector, as envisaged under the Social Partnership Agreement "Towards 2016". "Towards 2016" also acknowledged that the level of resources for the PLC sector would be determined in the light of resources generally and the implications...

Unemployment Levels: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: Several of the ideas contained in this evening's Private Members' motion from the Opposition are interesting and worth further exploration. Over the past two evenings we have heard from the Tánaiste, Ministers and Deputies about the Government's very real commitment to address the current rising unemployment problem and to take the necessary remedial actions to secure the country's economic...

Unemployment Levels: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: The Deputy should be patient.

Unemployment Levels: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: The co-operation between the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Department of Finance has never been closer and the Deputy will see the benefit of that in the coming weeks. I am acutely aware of the importance of investing in the continued development of the skills and competencies of our workforce. This investment will provide Ireland with competitive advantage in the area of...

Unemployment Levels: Motion (11 Mar 2009)

Seán Haughey: The further education sector has an important role to play in the current economic crisis and we are continuing to evolve policy in that regard.