Results 14,681-14,700 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes Issues (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Grant applications are means tested on gross income from all sources earned inside and outside the State within a specified reference period. Various income thresholds for a grant apply depending on the number of dependent children in a family and/or the number of children attending further and higher education. Any applicant, below these thresholds and who meets all of the other terms and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Relations Contracts Expenditure (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department has not incurred any expenditure on external public relations, communications consultants and organisations since 9 March, 2011

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the July Education Programme is available to all special schools and mainstream primary schools with special classes catering for children with autism that choose to extend their education services through the month of July. My Department also provides for a July Programme for pupils with a severe/profound general learning disability. Where school based...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Agencies Staff Recruitment (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am aware that COGG has a core staff of three. COGG has, in fact, a budget of €1.55m currently. The topics and the areas of research that COGG deals with are very varied. With its budget COGG has the flexibility to contract out work to experts in the field, as necessary. This allows COGG to benefit from the wide range of Irish language and teaching expertise which is available. I...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have no plans to establish a Forum along the lines suggested by the Deputy. This Government recognises the importance of ensuring that students from a Protestant or Reformed church background can attend a school that reflects their denominational ethos while at the same time ensuring that funding arrangements are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. With regard to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is conscious of the need to adapt existing policies and to develop new policies as new research or learning becomes available. The National Council for Special Education has a formal role under Section 20.1(j) of EPSEN to advise the Minister 'in relation to any matter relating to the education of children and others with disabilities'. I have now requested the NCSE to prepare...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: A major school building project for both the junior and the senior schools referred to by the Deputy is on the 5 year construction programme and is scheduled to commence construction in 2014/15. A tender exercise to appoint the design team is currently nearing completion. Once appointed, the design team will take the project through the stages of architectural planning to tender and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Commission (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has indicated that Question 8, on Monday's Leaving Certificate Maths, Higher Level, Paper 2 contained an error. The SEC has advised me that there were also errors on 3 other Mathematics papers, both Leaving and Junior Certificate, provided to candidates this year. The SEC acknowledges that these errors may have caused confusion and distress for some...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes Issues (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Accenture Report contained a series of recommendations, many of which are already being implemented by SUSI. In line with these recommendations and in preparation for the 2013/14 academic year, both the online application system and the application assessment process have been further developed to enhance their effectiveness and to deal with the difficulties experienced in year one. A...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Physical Education (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department does not maintain statistics on the proportion of primary school pupils that avail of swimming lessons and instructions in water safety. This is a matter for each individual school. All schools are expected to deliver the Physical Education curriculum. My Department encourages schools to make every effort to deliver the aquatics strand as one component of a comprehensive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the NCSE, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including the allocation of resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants to schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: An aonad has been established in the school referred to by the Deputy since 2006 to provide education through Irish at junior cycle. In the case of the school in question, my Department has provided resources in response to demonstrated demand and will continue to review whether the level of demand is sufficient to warrant the resources that have been provided. In relation to the provision...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The school referred to by the Deputy was allocated over 500m² of accommodation for special needs pupils as part of a new building that contains 8550m² of accommodation in total. Funding of €6,500 for a dedicated special class was provided in addition to €7,000 to purchase equipment for the schools multi sensory room. This level of funding is in accordance with the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers to other schools that have vacancies. The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to the Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Appointments to State Boards (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Details of Membership of Boards and appointment dates can be downloaded from my Department's website; this information is updated when any relevant changes occur. www.education.ie. It should be noted that Board appointments, while made by me as Minister, are not in all cases made at my sole discretion. Individuals may be nominated for appointment by various organisations as specified in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is currently finalising the accommodation brief for the proposed project in relation to the school referred to by the Deputy. The next stage will involve the commencement of the architectural planning process and my Department will be in contact with the school at the appropriate time. My Department is also in ongoing liaison with the school in relation to its interim...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school building project referred to was included in the €50 million investment in new school building projects recently announced as part of the Government's "Investing in Infrastructure & Jobs" Package. The project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning. Officials from the School Building Unit of my Department will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Information and Communications Technology Issues (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Work placements have a key role to play in helping students to develop the practical work place skills required by employers. In recent years higher education institutions have expanded the work placement opportunities available to students in ICT and other disciplines and the National Strategy for Higher Education recommends further expanding work placement and service learning opportunities...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm to the Deputy that there is a major building project for the amalgamation, referred to by the Deputy, at an early stage of architectural planning. The design team is currently working on the preparation of the Stage 2(a) submission. Due to competing demands on my Department's capital budget, imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: University Libraries (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Universities are autonomous statutory bodies and the management and operation of their facilities is therefore the responsibility of the college authorities. I, as Minister for Education and Skills, have no role in such matters. University libraries are provided primarily for use by students and staff and it is a function of the university alone to determine appropriate arrangements and...