Results 13,441-13,460 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department's computerised records which date back to 1972 showed no record of Linden Convalescent Home. An extensive trawl through manual records showed that Linden Convalescent Home was open from 12th March 1945 to 8th September 1969 and that it was established to cater for children suffering from rheumatic heart ailments. At the time of closure, there were 3 teachers in the school. I...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Amalgamation (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the decision making authority for school amalgamations belongs to the Patron/Trustees of a school, and this is subject to the approval of the Minister for Education and Skills. Any proposed changes involves extensive negotiations at local level and must be well planned and managed in a manner that accommodates the interests of students, parents, teachers,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Child Abuse (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department's records show that less than 10 families or their legal representatives have come forward where the victim died prior to the State's apology. As you are aware, on the 11th May 1999, the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern acknowledged, in his apology that 'On behalf of the State and of all citizens of the State, the Government wishes to make a sincere and long overdue apology to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The policy of my Department is that children with special educational needs, including children with autism, should be included, where possible and appropriate, in mainstream placements with additional supports provided. All State-funded primary and post primary schools have been allocated additional resources to provide for children with special educational needs enrolled in school....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: It is a pleasure for me, the Minister of State, Deputy English, and the officials to be with the committee this afternoon. As you said, Chairman, I will speak about the performance information first. The committee is considering the performance information that is included in the Revised Estimates volume for education and how that information might be improved to better assist the committee...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will begin with Deputy Brendan Ryan's general question on the model, how we report and how we are trying to be as clear as we can be regarding how the committee can have its oversight over what we are doing and how it can examine the outcomes. We want to move towards the New Zealand model as quickly as we can, and we have made progress. As I outlined, there are constraints in that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I understand the Senator's point. The outcome was bigger than the target-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: It is possible that the outcome will be greater again. With special needs, we have had to seek extra resources, regarding resource teachers and SNAs, which we got this year. There is a lesson to learn that we need to be as real as we can in our predictions. We can give the committee an update as we get the outcome. Some of the figures vary greatly, and superannuation is an example. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Senator Moloney did ask about that and I understood what she was asking.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: One of the reasons for the difference is that when the target is set for the next year, we do not know the outcome of the previous year. Perhaps that explains the situation better.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: We set the targets, but we do not get the outcome until the end of the year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: We have to look back at the outcome for the year previous, the one for which we have an outcome figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Is the Senator asking for figures or something else?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: They helped pay for it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: We will have to do the maths on that for the Senator. We will have to add them up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Some of the targets are more important than others and affect more people.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are two elements to providing a response. One is that because we do not know what the outcomes will be this year, we will not know what targets we have achieved until we have the returns. We know some of them because they relate to particular issues that can happen during the year, but others we will not know until the end of the year. In regard to the previous year, we can do the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The answer to that is "Yes". Some work has already been done and there has been interaction with the committee secretariat. We are happy to continue to do that. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform should be involved also. We are happy to work together on output measures to be included in the 2016 Estimates.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Yes, absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 26 - Department of Education and Skills (30 Sep 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I think we have had some discussions in the past about capital expenditure. It is a different context to measuring outcomes and working with the committee in its role in measuring outcomes, but I am happy to engage with the committee on its priorities. Obviously, the capital plan has been announced and we will very shortly announce the detail of the education-specific aspects of the capital...