Results 15,281-15,300 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the committee for the invitation to discuss the pre-budget position for the Department of Education and Skills for 2014. I welcome the initiative to enhance the role of the Oireachtas committees in the Estimates and budgetary process. I am happy to hear inputs from committee members that could assist the Government in formulating the education and skills element of the budget. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the three Deputies for their questions. I will ask the Minister of State to come in if he wishes to address some of the issues that have been raised. As a background to this, we are very conscious in the Department that we are asking everybody in the system to do more with less, that there are many pressures and that many families are under pressure. Schools and the education...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It would be controversial. This committee might like to talk to Mr. Stack and his people to examine it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: If one assumed the distribution of medical conditions such as autism, Asperger's syndrome, are evenly distributed across the profile of the entire population, we cannot say the resources are evenly distributed because a person who can afford to get a diagnosis for his or her child can access resources. We have received correspondence from people, many of whom have borrowed money. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Years ago, before the troika arrived on these shores, Cabinet Ministers spoke of the Department of Finance's "Asgard list" of unthinkable possibilities such as selling off the Book of Kells and the Asgard. Obviously I am joking and referring to the last century. It was a frighteners' list, and there is a modern version of it but I will not say its name. The principle that informs the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: If we have to do this, and the likelihood is that we will, although I must put a caveat on it and note it is too soon to be absolutely definite, we have enough resources to pay for the additional teachers for the rest of this year - for the first term of the 2013-14 academic year, if one likes. The numbers are approximately €7 million in salary costs for approximately 500 teachers,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: If they are allocated. I presume we will have to await what the schools present and what we are told we need to provide.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: From within our existing resources, we can provide for the 500 for the first part of the academic year 2013-14, that is, up to the end of 2013.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am told we had not budgeted for the extra demand but we had budgeted for the 500 for this financial year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: To deal first with Deputy McConalogue's questions, we cannot finalise our costings with regard to the potential savings because both the TUI and the ASTI teacher unions have decided to ballot their members on whether they want to accept Haddington Road or not. That will not become known to us until September as they will have to wait until the schools are back before they ballot their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is what the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is assigning if either the Haddington Road agreement is implemented in full or the alternative arises, namely, the changes in the FEMPI legislation. Presumably, it is a mixture of those two but it could change if the teachers change their attitude. I do not want to say anything which would in any way prejudice this as it is an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The pay reductions have been implemented for all of us, including Members of the Oireachtas and Ministers. These were implemented on the first payday after 1 July. The teachers need time to reflect on this and I hope they will come to a decision. I do not want to state anything which would prejudice this or interfere with the outcome. It is a matter for teachers. The Cabinet has not yet...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Another question about young teachers was asked with regard to their position under the Haddington Road agreement which so far only affects primary school teachers. The revised proposal put forward by the Labour Relations Commission for the public service stability agreement contained a number of commitments to help newly qualified teachers secure permanent positions in the education sector....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The courts have found we are not the employers of teachers. We pay their salary but we are not their employer. The contract of employment is between the patron of a school and the teacher. If a vacancy arises, for instance because of maternity leave, the person who makes the decision is the principal, presumably in consultation with the board of management and the patron. If they choose...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It would be a major cultural transformation in the nature of our education system. It is set out in law in the education Acts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It would be a major change.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I will read the reply given in response to a parliamentary question asked by a Deputy on this matter. It reads: Circular 31/2011 details a cascade of measures for recruitment of teachers, prioritising unemployed registered teachers over retired registered teachers and registered teachers over unregistered people. It is important to note that boards of management of schools and vocational...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: 2014 Pre-Budget Submission: Department of Education and Skills (17 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I remember the first INTO conference that I attended in my capacity as the Minister for Education and Skills. This was a major issue. I needed to remind the delegates clearly that they had the power to do it within their own union, as all of the principals were members of the union.