Results 13,461-13,480 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

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 want to work with the committee in that with regard so that output measures would set out what final and external-facing targets and outcomes will be achieved by a particular action or series of actions. We are happy to work with the committee and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of improving those measures. The point I made in my opening remarks is that in some...

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: Which one was that?

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: That is somewhat dependent on the schools coming back to us with the information, if I am-----

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 an output for 2014, 2013-----

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 do not know if we have an answer. We might have to come back to the Senator about that one as well.

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: That we have the detail for one year and none for the year before - I must come back to the Senator on that. I do not know why the figure is not there because, obviously, if we were able to do it for 2014 and have a reasonable percentage back-----

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 come back to the Senator on that.

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: That is one area in which we need to work with the committee to improve its oversight.

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 output for 2014 is 99.4% and the target for 2015 is 100% - in other words, all schools would have access to NEPS.

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 all acknowledge that the NEPS psychologists are definitely stretched in terms of covering all the schools. The target for 2015 is that every school would have access to NEPS psychologists. That does not mean they have as much as the Senator or I would want them to have, but it is a service that has not been as well resourced as we would like. Our target was to ensure that every...

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 Moran is correct. We have made some progress in having access for all schools but the amount of access is the issue. I am sure the Senator knows that the National Council for Special Education has proposed reforms in the area of supporting children with special learning needs in schools. Since we did not have all the data, we have not been able to introduce the reforms this 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: It is working on it and I am told it is coming. We have not got it yet. I do not know how long it will take but I hope it will not be too long.

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: What we are trying to do is ensure that the children and schools that most need the resources actually get them. Everybody here knows that, in some cases, people have to pay for private assessments in order to get supports in schools. That is clearly unfair to families and schools that do not have access to very much money. That is one of the main reasons the new model has been proposed....

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: That is a very fair request. It is something we want to do. I draw attention to a document, which I presume is available on our website, called Ireland's Education and Training Sector: Overview of Service Delivery and Reform. It contains many facts and figures but we need to give them in a format whereby-----

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: Deputy Charlie McConalogue and Senator Mary Moran have a fair point on NEPS, which I acknowledge. The reason there was a target for access for schools is that we had not reached 100%. We are not proud that every single school did not have access to NEPS, and that is why the target exists. It is a target but the more important issue is the one both members raised, namely, that there should...

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: Output. The question is a fair one. The legislation is in draft form at present. The Office of the Attorney General is engaging with our Department on finalising it and I expect it will be ready to publish within the next month. We want to get it into the Oireachtas as soon as possible. Obviously, it is important to those parts of the country that aspire to giving their institution...

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 many other issues also, as members know.

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 can go through it quickly. I do not want to take up too much time for 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 go through it fairly quickly. The Minister of State, Deputy English, and I thank the committee for the opportunity to be here. I want to give a brief opening statement on the other element of the meeting. For the mid-year review of 2015 expenditure, the briefing slides we have provided to the committee present the expenditure position to the middle of August 2015, together with...

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: To clarify, is the Senator referring to current or capital expenditure?