Results 14,421-14,440 of 16,057 for speaker:Mary Coughlan

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are allocated to schools to enable them to support pupils with disabilities who also have significant care needs. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers, for allocating resource teachers and SNAs to schools to support children with special educational needs. The...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for the relevant grant awarding authority. Depending on the nature of the course to be pursued, this will be either a student's local authority or VEC. As a decision on grant entitlement can only be taken on foot of a fully completed application form and the necessary supporting documentation, it is in the student's best...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: It is the policy of my Department that only qualified personnel should be employed by schools. Unqualified personnel should not be appointed except in exceptional circumstances and then only when all avenues for recruiting qualified personnel have been exhausted and only for quite limited time periods. This is now reflected in Circular 40/2010 which my Department issued earlier this year....

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: Data on primary schools is not available by Dublin postal code. The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains information relating to class size in primary schools for the 2009-2010 school year. The information includes the number of pupils in each class and the number of pupils in each class size range. The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published...

Written Answers — Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme: Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The Deputy will be aware that the current difficult economic circumstances have necessitated tough choices to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run. In these circumstances, from September 2010, as announced in the Budget, all new applicants who are in receipt of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA), and the VTOS allowances for those pursuing PLC...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant assessing authority, i.e. the applicant's local authority or VEC. An applicant may appeal the decision to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where the assessing authority decides to reject the appeal, the applicant may appeal this decision to my Department by submitting an appeal form...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The most recent projections used by my Department would see the projected enrolments at post-primary level increase from the current total enrolment (excluding PLCs) of circa 312,200 pupils to an expected enrolment circa 328,700 pupils by the year 2016. Meeting this level of significant increased demand for education services will be a major challenge. It is within this context that the...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The question of enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authority of those schools and my Department does not seek to intervene in decisions made by schools in such matters. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking places. This may result, however, in some pupils not obtaining...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The school referred to by the Deputy was allocated a grant in April of this year to provide an additional mainstream classroom. The school management authorities were advised that they could utilise this grant to purchase temporary accommodation or to build a permanent structure. I understand that the school authorities have decided to provide a permanent structure. Additional funding has...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: In 2004, agreement was reached to amalgamate the school referred to by the Deputy and one other primary school in the town. An application was made for capital funding towards the amalgamation project. It was assessed and the project was assigned a band rating of 1.4. A technical inspection was carried out on the existing school buildings to determine which would be suitable to...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has reached agreement, in principle, subject to contract with the County Council. Once this acquisition is concluded, the proposed building project will be considered in the context of the capital budget available to my Department for school buildings generally.

Written Answers — Third Level Sector: Third Level Sector (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: There are no plans to develop any new higher education institutions at this time. As the Deputy may be aware, a new national strategy for higher education has been under development by a high level group chaired by Dr Colin Hunt. The question of how Ireland's higher education system should be configured to best meet the challenges of the next two decades has been under consideration...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 262, 301 and 307 together. The Deputies will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is an independent agency with responsibility for determining the appropriate staffing levels in relation to the support of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's policy in...

Written Answers — Educational Materials: Educational Materials (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I wish to advise the Deputy that I have consistently encouraged schools to put in place book rental schemes as the most effective means of lowering costs for all parents. In accordance with the Renewed Programme for Government, my Department issued funding to schools in June to enable them to provide assistance for school books. Details of the funding were notified to schools by...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers applied to my Department for major capital works. The application was assessed in accordance with published prioritisation criteria for large scale projects and assigned a band 2 rating. The project was included in the Ministerial announcement on 16 February 2010 to appoint a design team this year. Subsequently, the Department's...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: This project is currently at an advanced stage of the tender process. Assuming no issues arise, it is envisaged that the project will progress to construction in quarter 4 of this year.

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The most recent projections used by my Department would see the projected enrolments at post-primary level increase from the current total enrolment (excluding PLCs) of circa 312,200 pupils to an expected enrolment circa 328,700 pupils by the year 2016. Meeting this level of significant increased demand for education services will be a major challenge. It is within this context that the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers has made an application to the Department for large scale capital funding. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects and assigned a Band 1 rating. My Department is considering the sites referred to by the Deputy with a view to formulating the most...

Written Answers — Social Welfare Benefits: Social Welfare Benefits (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I understand that that is a matter for the Minister for Social and Family Protection

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers has made an application to my Department for large scale capital funding to construct a new school on a greenfield site. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects and assigned a Band 2 rating. There are four band ratings under the prioritisation...