Results 12,421-12,440 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The facility to which the Deputy refers to in his question provides a two-year pre-school programme which caters for 3-5 year old children. The Pre-School project referred to is not a designated Special School, but a stand-alone project in receipt of an individual resourcing mechanism which is separate to the resourcing arrangements which apply to mainstream and Special schools, including...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning. The Board of Management of the school has recently been authorised to progress the project to commence stage 2(b) which includes applications for planning permission, Fire Safety Certification, Disability Access Certification. Due to competing demands on my Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand that in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy, his student grant application was unsuccessful and that he appealed the decision to the appeals officer in SUSI on 30th November 2012. SUSI aims to issue determinations as promptly as possible and within the specified timeframes defined in the Student Support Act, 2011. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Application Numbers (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: SUSI has indicated that it is on target to progress all applications received to date with the necessary supporting documentation between now and the end of the year. The Higher Education Authority (HEA), on foot of a request from my Department, has written to all higher education institutions requesting them to show flexibility and consideration, as most have done in the past, to students...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland that in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy a grant has been awarded and an award letter issued on 24th October, 2012.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The NCSE has notified all schools of their allocation of resource hours for low incidence special needs for the 2012/13 school year. The arrangements for how schools access these resource hours in teaching posts are set out in the Department Staffing Circular 0007/2012 which is available on the website. Under these arrangements a network of over 2,500 full-time resource posts has been put in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with SUSI, the new centralised grant awarding authority, that on the 2nd December, 2012 a request for further documentation was issued to the student referred to by the Deputy. When the requested documentation is returned the student will be notified directly of the outcome.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning. Due to competing demands on my Department's capital budget, imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of additional school accommodation to meet increasing demographic requirements, it was not possible to include this project in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the Policy Advice on the Education of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in Ireland, which was published by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) earlier this year. This paper was developed by the NCSE following consideration of all of the issues involved and including consultations with members of the deaf community. The policy advice...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Site Acquisitions (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm to the Deputy that Ballymun Regeneration Ltd., operating under the aegis of Dublin City Council, has agreed, in principle, to lease for 500 years, the site in question to my Department for educational purposes to facilitate the development of permanent accommodation for the existing Gaelscoil. This new accommodation will replace the school's existing pre-fabricated...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Reform (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: On the basis of the review carried out by the independent selection panel at the initial stage of the Expressions of Interest process, four of the ten proposals received were short-listed for oral presentation. Following oral presentation these proposals were assigned a ranking depending on their relative strengths under each of the evaluation criteria leading to the preferred proposal. Based...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy is aware the prefab replacement initiative that I announced earlier this year is in the main to replace rented prefabs. Once these prefabs are no longer required by schools they are returned to the rental companies as the rented prefabs are their property. The following schools in Co. Kildare are currently in the process of replacing their rented prefabs: Scoil Na Mainistreach...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Application Numbers (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 28 to 31, inclusive, 33 and 35 together. The first table attached provides a breakdown on a county basis of the status of the student grant applications received by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). The data provided is at a point in time on 5th December 2012 . It gives the position for student grant applications for attendance at both further and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Agencies (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The table attached provides a breakdown of the number of student grant applications processed by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), on a weekly basis since September. It is broken down into new application assessment, which is the first step in assessing an application received, and pack assessment which includes the supporting documentation subsequently received. This information...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Agencies (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In total, there is now 96 staff working in Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), 33 of which are permanent and 63 of which are temporary. To date 149 temporary staff have been approved in the outsourced company, engaged by SUSI, to support the processing of student grants. There are currently 143 of these staff in place. 6 persons who recently left are being replaced. In addition,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (6 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Eligibility for the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) and associated payments is determined and administered by the Department of Social Protection. Students who qualifiy for the BTEA, may be considered for support for the student contribution under the student grant scheme provided they satisfy the conditions of the relevant Student Grant Scheme and Student Support Regulations including...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (6 Dec 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 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...

Leaders' Questions (11 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy was never a member of the IRA.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (11 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I published the Framework for Junior Cycle on 4th October. One of its features is that the State Junior Certificate examination will be replaced, in a phased manner over the next eight years, by a new school-based approach to assessment in line with best practice internationally. The Framework includes a number of measures to support and quality assure standards for the school based...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Recognition (11 Dec 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In the case of the school, referred to by the Deputy, provisional recognition was initially awarded to the school in 2008 and has been extended year on year since. A process is in place under which the school's application for permanent recognition is being actively considered. This process is based on undertakings committed to by the school in 2007. The undertakings reflect the standard...