Results 13,481-13,500 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: Yes.

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 Cannon asked about the capital programme. We will continue the prefab programme. In the existing programme the focus was mostly on the rented prefabs but we will now move on to the prefabs that have been bought. We have to approach the schools and put it to them that we would replace the prefabs. In cases where a new building will be built, automatically the prefabs will be...

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, it is confusing, but that is what it was. The total for Grangegorman was €40 million in 2014. The total amount spent to date is €57.5 million. Some €5.5 million has been spent in this year to date. There is €25 million allocated for 2015, so there is more money to be spent this year. We will need to allocate more money in future years from the capital...

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 are estimating another €40 million, but it is a PPP so there are different streams of funding. In can clarify this for the Senator, but I think we estimated about a further €40 million from the State. I might not be right on that so I had better come back to the Senator. About 1,000 students transferred on to the campus in September 2014. It is a very big project...

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 Senator asked me to outline where I consider the best spending to be in terms of return.

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: Personally I think it is best used in the early years and primary school. If we do not invest in children when they are young they will not be able to follow what we are trying to teach them when they get a bit older. The money spent on DEIS is also very well spent but we are carrying out a review at the moment to make sure that it is. Some schools that did not qualify for DEIS designation...

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 will be in the course of the current academic year, so we should have it before next summer.

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: Every political party in the State would claim we do not spend enough on preschool and early years-----

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: When I talk about DEIS, I am talking about school-age children.

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: No, I have some others. I will move on. We can have a further discussion 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: I believe I have answered Senator Craughwell's question about PPP schools. He also asked me about IT costs. We will publish the digital strategy very shortly. That will look at the area of IT and how best to spend the money there in order to keep up with changing hardware, software, etc., in that area. Senator Moloney asked about school meals and the DEIS review that I just mentioned; I...

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 might be money that was allocated for a particular purpose and there was still money there at the end of the year. So it has to come in and go back out, if the Senator knows what I mean. I believe I have covered everything apart from school transport. I think the Minister of State might also want to say something about the area of research.

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 Minister of State needs to leave. Might he answer the science question now while I answer the others?

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 announce the specifics of the schools capital budget in a couple of weeks' time. That will be in the lifetime of the current Government unless there is an election called between now and then. Do I have time to answer more questions?

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: In terms of the Chairman's questions, we are very conscious of the pressures that are on the IT sector. We gave back €25 million last year and the HEA has engaged with the sector on the issues. We will give assistance when we get to the capital budget. For example, the PPP model will probably be of assistance to it as well. We have the report by Peter Cassells to come as well. 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 transition issue that Senator Moran raised is very important. We have made a lot of progress. There were real difficulties a few years ago in terms of not having places.

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 are conscious of that issue as well. I hope that I have covered everything.

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 do not fund preschools.

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: No, that would be a different sector. Prefabs are funded by a different sector.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme Applications (1 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the names of all schools that were successful under the 2014 Summer Works Scheme (SWS), including the areas to which he refers, may be viewed on my Department's website www.education.ie. My Department approved grant under the 2014 SWS in three moieties, in March 2014, May 2014 and April 2015. Details of the schools in the areas in question that were...