Results 1,241-1,260 of 8,015 for speaker:Jonathan O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Education Welfare Service Staff (9 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of education welfare officers recruited in each of the past five years. [43299/12]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Education Welfare Service Staff (9 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of education welfare officers in each county. [43300/12]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pensions Expenditure (10 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if any currently serving secretaries general retain TLAC terms with regards to their pension provisions; if he will provide a list of those secretaries general; if he will provide the total expected cost to the Exchequer of the pension pots to be paid out to the former on their retirement broken down by annual pension payment for each,...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Teachers' Remuneration (10 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way he intends to deal with the pay gap that has emerged between new entrant teachers and those appointed prior to his decision to withdraw all allowances. [43489/12]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Managing Back to School Costs: Discussion (10 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: I thank the witnesses for coming in for this important debate. Parents face major challenges as the cost of sending children to school is increasing. With a reduction in the education budget, there will be an increased cost for parents, who can expect a figure in the region of €77 million. This is separate to the multi-annual reductions announced last year, such as the capitation...

Topical Issue Debate: Student Grant Scheme Applications (11 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: When the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, system was launched in June, it was heralded as an efficient and cost-effective means by which to process student grant applications. There is no doubt that it is better than the old system, with which 66 awarding authorities were involved and to which were attached different types of application process. I accept that there have been...

Topical Issue Debate: Student Grant Scheme Applications (11 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I fully accept that the wrong paperwork can sometimes be submitted or that additional information may be required. However, the student to whom I refer submitted the necessary paperwork two months ago and it was only this week that he received a letter indicating that additional information was required. It is not solely down to the students. A...

Home Help and Home Care Services: Motion [Private Members] (16 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: Yesterday, I met home helps in Cork. I am sure the Minister of State is familiar with many of the women to whom I spoke, as she probably knows them personally through her own contact with them in the constituency as well as her role in the Department. She knows as well as I do some of the issues and decisions facing them. One home help has been put in an awful position. She now has 15...

Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: I commend the Minister and his officials for the time, effort and research that went into the legislation. No one could argue but that there are ambitious reforming measures in the Bill. The Minister referred to landmark dates and this will be another landmark item of legislation in respect of education in the State. The scale of what the Minister is trying to achieve cannot be...

Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: This legislation is the transforming Bill and I understand why it took so long to get to this Stage. When the SOLAS Bill comes before the House, it will pass very quickly because most of the groundwork will have been done in this Bill. Both items of legislation are important because they come at a time when the State faces a period of challenging economic reality. Dealing with such...

Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: We will hold the Minister to that commitment. Two weeks ago, the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection heard from a number of patron bodies about the cost of education to parents. The cost of education to many parents and the pressure put on schools to meet budgets is having an effect. Anything that can reduce the cost of running schools, with the savings passed on to parents,...

Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: Any reform of our education system, which involves the reform of public services, must strike a balance between securing efficiencies and making the delivery more effective for learners and more rewarding for those who deliver the services. That must be a priority. The reform of education and training provision must not be exclusively focused on the expenditure side. Adequate provision...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Human Rights Issues (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the continued human rights violations in Bahrain, particularly against medics; and the formal steps that he has taken to inform the Bahraini Government of its views in relation to these human rights violations. [45096/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the cost to the Exchequer should primary and post primary schools that qualify for the capitation grant be made exempt from value added tax when paying for service utility and service charges. [44968/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the cost to the Exchequer should primary and post primary schools that implement the DEIS’s recognised curriculum be made exempt from value added tax when paying for service utility and service charges. [44969/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the cost to the Exchequer should primary and post primary schools be made exempt from value added tax when paying for school text books. [44970/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the cost to the Exchequer should the 3,305 primary schools and 4,034 second level schools aided by the DEIS be made exempt from value added tax when paying for service utility and service charges. [44971/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Finance if there are EU regulations that prohibit the introduction of amendments to existing legislation that would exempt primary and secondary schools from paying VAT. [44972/12]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: VAT Exemptions (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the cost to the Exchequer should DEIS band one and two schools be made exempt from value added tax when paying for service utility and service charges. [44973/12]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Institutions Issues (17 Oct 2012)

Jonathan O'Brien: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the DEIS has considered increasing the minimum number of teaching hours for lecturers employed in third level institutions from 16 to 18 and the projected savings that could be made to the third level budget from this change. [44975/12]