Results 13,741-13,760 of 19,666 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (5 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (11 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House this evening on budget 2024, and in particular to highlight some of its key features for children, young people and their families. This is a hugely progressive budget, which has its heart supporting individuals, families, communities and all sectors of society. In the short time I have, I will speak in particular to the budget...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The Educational Welfare Service (EWS) is part of Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) and operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs), based throughout the country, deal with children and families who have difficulties in relation to school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, Budget 2023 provided for the provision of funding from the Climate Action Fund in relation to the provision of Photovoltaic Panels in schools up to 6KW output. This is positive news for our schools and will assist with their energy needs and costs along with supporting the decarbonisation of our school buildings. My officials are working closely with colleagues...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary and special schools. The NEPS service provides access for all schools to:Psychological support in the event of a Critical IncidentA Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing process contains an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria. The final meeting of the Primary Staffing Appeals Board, for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary and special schools. The NEPS service provides access for all schools to:Psychological support in the event of a Critical IncidentA Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application for change of status from all boys to co-educational, from the school authority in question. Officials from my Department are currently engaging with the school patron with a view to completing the assessment of this application for change of status, in the context of school place requirements in the area...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy, that my Department has had no staff suffering from long term-Covid who have had their employment terminated. Section 24 of the Education Act 1998, as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012, provides that the appointment, suspension and dismissal of teachers are the responsibility of boards of management of recognised schools or, where the employer is a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. The Council registers teachers under five routes of registration namely, Route 1 - Primary,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme. The purpose of my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (or ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers, was granted funding under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme for the provision of 19 general classrooms, 7 SET rooms, 2 meeting rooms, 1 DP office, 3 classroom SEN base, 1 art room, 1 home economics room, 1 graphics room, 3 science labs, 2 prep areas, 1 construction studies, prep area, 1 engineering room, 1 tech prep room, 3...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has no current record of receiving an application for additional accommodation from the school in question. The purpose of my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (or ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: Further to Parliamentary Question No 78, 27 September 2023, I wish to advise the Deputy that the 2nd Tender Report has not been received by my Department for review and we are currently not in a position to provide a timeline for completion of this review.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding, under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (10 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing the universal supports available to all schools, the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Programme is a key policy initiative of my Department to address concentrated educational...