Results 15,721-15,740 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (3 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The school to which the Deputy refers is among a range of schools earmarked for delivery through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) process. The PPP process forms a central part of the Government's overall economic stimulus package. This specific school was identified for inclusion in Schools Bundle 4 of the PPP process in July 2012. The procurement process for this bundle of schools has...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Literacy Levels (3 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Over the period since the launch of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy in July 2011, there has been significant progress under many of the 41 actions and almost 180 sub-actions. I have increased the time spent on literacy and numeracy at primary level and the revision of the English and Irish curricula is being prioritised in Junior Cycle Reform. Major changes are being made to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (3 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As part of the Budget 2012 decisions, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools is being gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014. The target savings from this budget measure is 250 posts over the 3 year period. The Government recognises that small schools are an important part of the social fabric of rural...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (3 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have no plans to reverse my decision on the withdrawal of posts from 16 rural DEIS schools as implemented under Budget 2012. Of the 328 DEIS Rural primary schools in 2012, these 16 schools lost one legacy post each. DEIS Rural Primary schools are not included for preferential pupil teacher ratios under DEIS, as generally, their rural location tends to ensure they have lower class sizes....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Funding (3 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The estimated savings, at the time, from each of the Budget measures introduced in 2012 and 2013 were as follows: - The changes to postgraduate funding would yield some €6 million savings in 2012 and a full year saving (in 2015) of some €54.2 million. - The reduction of 3% in grant rates for all grant holders from January 2012 would yield a full year saving in 2012 of some...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Guidance Counsellors (3 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department, like all other Government Departments, is operating within a budgetary programme that is designed to return the Government finances to a sustainable basis. It is not possible to reverse the budget measure in relation to guidance counselling. There are no easy solutions to this challenge. This Government has protected education as much as it can. Far greater reductions in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Expenditure (3 Oct 2013)

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

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 61 together. The context for any discussion about pupil-teacher ratios or class sizes is that my Department, like all other Departments, is operating within a budgetary programme that is designed to return the Government finances to a sustainable basis. My focus is on ensuring we have school places and teachers for the thousands of additional pupils...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I would like to tell the Deputies more information if I could be sure what I told them would be what happens on budget day, but I cannot be sure about that until final figures are agreed on the overall macroeconomic framework, a matter that was discussed at Cabinet today. Each Department is focused on what it wants to do or avoid in the spheres of education, justice or wherever. Other...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: We should be looking at why that is happening.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank both Deputies for expressing their concerns, which is helpful. We may need to look at areas where population is rising quickly and where there are demographic issues. We know how many two and three year olds there are and we need to consider whether our response to and intervention on the schools with realisable population increases should be quicker than is currently the case. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes, we analyse all the decisions that are contemplated on the menu. We have a bit more experience in respect of understanding the potential impacts.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, all schools must have a code of behaviour which has been drawn up in accordance with guidelines issued by the National Education Welfare Board, NEWB. These NEWB guidelines specifically require all schools to have an anti-bullying policy within the framework of their overall code of behaviour. The recently published anti-bullying procedures are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The overall budgetary allocation, which is quite modest, is €500,000 for the implementation of the strategy. Deputy O'Brien is correct in saying that €70,000 was identified for a specific training programme for parents, to be administered by the National Parents Council. We will see how that unfolds. The previous set of guidelines were signed off on in 1993. These have been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: If a school does not implement the strategy and guidelines and this decision is wilful, in that the school either does not agree with the strategy and guidelines or is not going to implement them, rather than the result of the school having difficulties finding the resources, that must provoke some kind of consequence. If it is because the school or board of management need assistance or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have already acknowledged to the House that bringing guidance within quota is challenging for schools. The alternative, however, was to adjust the pupil-teacher ratio staffing allocations. Guidance is a whole-school activity, and schools have autonomy on how best to prioritise their available resources to meet the requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Guidance counsellors play an important role in schools. All that was done was to give leadership at secondary level the discretion to deploy the full array of time that the guidance teacher had in the school. It was a choice between doing that or increasing the pupil-teacher ratio. That was not a great choice to begin with, but I believe I took the better option. We are discussing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: This tragedy that confronts us all is not just a guidance counsellors issue, although they are central to its resolution in many respects. It is a community issue, including within the school itself. As the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, stated when we launched the document, if a person is in trouble or feels the need to access help, he or she should feel free in the first...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In June, I authorised the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to maintain the level of resource teaching allocations to be provided for students with special educational needs at 2012-13 levels. There has not been a reduction in resource teaching time for these pupils for the current school year. The NCSE has advised me that the number of additional posts required to meet the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: On 25 June, I announced that I would authorise the NCSE to make allocations at the same level for 2013 as before, which is 0.85. Consequently, there has not been a reduction in resource teaching time for pupils with special educational needs over last year's allocation. The NCSE published details of all its initial allocations for resource teaching and SNA support for the 2013-14 school...