Results 14,281-14,300 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Payments (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland that the student referred to by the Deputy has been awarded a post graduate fee contribution, which for the academic year 2012/13 is €2,000.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service Administration (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I can inform the Deputy that all primary and post primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Where a NEPS psychologist is not assigned to a school, authorities therein may...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, in June 2011, I announced that 20 new primary schools are to be established in the coming years across a number of locations to meet significantly increasing demographics in those areas. This announcement included a proposal to establish a new primary school in the Knocknacarra area in 2014. The Deputy will be aware of extensive housing developments in this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Programmes Funding (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is open to all public, private and not for profit higher education providers to submit proposals for courses to be funded under Springboard. All courses approved for funding are selected by an independent panel with industry and educational expertise, having regard to published selection criteria and following a competitive tendering process. A call for proposals for courses to be run...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. This now...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The qualifying criteria for the special rate of maintenance grant in the 2013/14 academic year as specified under the 2013 student grant scheme is as follows: 1. Student must qualify for the standard rate of grant. 2. Total reckonable income net of income disregards and Child Dependant Increase must not exceed €22,703. 3. As at the 31st December 2012, the reckonable income must...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The delivery of the new school referred to my the Deputy has been devolved to County Kildare VEC and is currently at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning and is included on my Department's 5 Year Capital Programme to progress to construction in 2013. The project has completed two stages of Architectural Planning (Stage 1 and Stage 2(a)). It is envisaged that the project will shortly...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for the relevant grant awarding authority. The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application form, including those relating to residency and or nationality, it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student would qualify for a grant. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Legal Costs (23 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Legal fees incurred by the State, in defending cases which are brought to court, are generally not met directly by my Department. In accordance with financial procedures in cases involving damages or compensation against the State, costs are generally charged to the Chief State Solicitor's Office Vote as sanctioned by the Attorney General. If expenditure on legal matters does arise it is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Reform (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The City of Dublin VEC commissioned an external review of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, to identify the causes of the processing difficulties experienced in 2012 and to set out a specific programme of action to address them. The review contains a series of recommendations, many of which are already being implemented by SUSI. In line with these recommendations and in preparation...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Reform (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for his questions. The Department had no experience of administering the grant system and from day one, there were 66 different bodies involved, with the county councils on one hand and vocational educational committees on the other. We did not get a centralised reporting mechanism back to the Department to indicate which counties were doing well, although there were...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Reform (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I can give a positive answer to the first request as it will be better this year. I will not publish any document because I do not have a document. I was briefed by officials working in extremely difficult circumstances because like everybody else, their income has been reduced and their workload has been increased. I am not looking for people to scapegoat. I am the person to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand Deputy O'Brien is otherwise engaged and I welcome Deputy Ó Snodaigh in his place. The home tuition scheme provides a grant to parents to facilitate the provision of education at home for children who, for specified reasons, are unable to attend school or for whom a school placement or preschool placement is not available. It is generally the case that the tuition is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for his supplementary question. I can confirm the proposal is with regard to the PALS preschool group in Blanchardstown. Discussions have taken place on remuneration and allocation of fees and I am happy to tell the House and Deputy a fee structure has been proposed by the provider and it is acceptable to the Department, and letters to this effect will issue to all concerned.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Traveller Community Issues (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The report and recommendations for a Traveller education strategy, published in 2006, recommended that the principle of inclusion be the guiding principle and that segregated provision for Travellers should be either reduced or eliminated. In line with this strategy a number of Traveller-specific programmes have been phased out. The reference to an 86.6% reduction in the recent report...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Traveller Community Issues (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy tabled a specific question, which I have attempted to answer, concerning a statistic that was given and which is disputed, but that is another matter. The reductions in supports for Travellers were taken by the previous Government but they were maintained by this Government, so I am not trying to blame any of my predecessors. I do not think the issue of mainstreaming is disputed...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Traveller Community Issues (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: If the Deputy could bring those particular details to my personal attention, I will have a direct inquiry made and will get back to her and the other Deputies in the constituency.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The National Council for Special Education's report on Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs in Schools makes clear that there are many aspects of the current system with which parents and schools are very happy. We should recognise that at the outset. However, the NCSE also considers that there are concerns in relation to some aspects of our current system, under the headings...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for his comments. He is right to recognise the fact that a lot of progress was made in this area by previous Governments, of which his party was the dominant partner. It is 20 years since we had the first allocation model for special needs education and how it can be broken down. The world has learned a lot more, not just in Ireland but across the globe, particularly in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: At the launch of the NCSE report I met one of the representatives for people with Down's syndrome. They have lobbied the Oireachtas very professionally and comprehensively and I gave an undertaking to meet them. I am also awaiting advice from the NCSE on how Down's syndrome is to be treated within this broader context. On the second question, I gave an undertaking that I would ring-fence...