Results 16,141-16,160 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training Provision (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Recommendations for changes to initial teacher education were included in the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020 and have been incorporated into the Teaching Council's Policy Paper on the Continuum of Teacher Education and Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers. Both were published in 2011. The improvements to be made to post...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: For student grants purposes, a student may be assessed as an independent student if he/she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved post leaving certificate course or an approved higher education course or of re-entry to an approved course following a break in studies of at least three years, and is not ordinarily resident with his/her parents...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (13 Nov 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 it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student would qualify for a grant. Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Issues (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations including organising the holding of examinations, determining procedures in places where examinations are conducted including the supervision of examinations and making arrangements for the marking of work presented for examination. In view of this I have forwarded...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Chairman. Members of the committee have been circulated with the information note prepared by the Department on the agenda for the next Council of Education Ministers meeting on 25 November 2013. I will represent Ireland at the Council meeting, the only one being held under the Lithuanian Presidency. The Council, which is part of the education, youth culture and sports...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Deputy McConalogue has been obliged to leave but I am sure he will consult the transcript in due course to follow up on the replies I am about to provide. Three Education Council meetings are held every year. Two of these take place in the first semester, so those hosted by Ireland were held in February and May. The final one takes place in November and that is the one to which I referred...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is €700 million in third level academic institutions and it is approximately €300 million in foreign English language schools. A note I have, which is fairly up to date, states that there are 32,000 students registered in Irish higher education institutions, including international students on Irish programmes overseas. These would include the Royal College of Surgeons and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy asked a question about access to broadband. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, and myself have a programme, which will be completed this year, to provide a rollout of a 100 megabytes infrastructure to all post-primary schools in the country, which number approximately 730. We are considering the primary sector but we do not have the same clear picture in that respect. There is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The note I have states that in relation to primary schools, that all contracts under the schools' broadband access programme are regularly reviewed so that schools can have access to the best quality connectivity solutions affordable within the available resources. That would be from area to area. If the Deputy has a set of areas that is of interest to him in this regard, I would be happy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It really is the prerogative of each member state to set out its own priorities for the Presidency. That is done in consultation with the Commission and the three countries that form a cluster. In the case of the Irish Presidency, I shared our perspective on the future with both the Lithuanians and the Greeks. The Greeks were the third group of three countries. Ultimately, it is for each...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is a very good point and it has been brought to my attention previously. It was raised by both Deputy McConalogue and you, Chairman, and Deputy Jonathan O’Brien also raised it. There was a time in the mid-1980s when the then Labour-Fine Gael coalition fell out of favour with Croke Park because we could not remove VAT from hurley sticks and Ministers were effectively banned from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Education, Youth and Culture Council: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (13 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is one fifth, which is a large amount. All the indications are that electronic format is the way to go and that will affect all of my educational colleagues. We will take up the matter, in some shape or form, and report back to the committee.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The policy of my Department is to ensure, as far as possible, that the Managerial Authorities of schools give priority to unemployed registered teachers who are fully qualified when filling vacant teaching posts. It is important to note that schools themselves employ teachers and not the Department of Education and Skills. However my Department has issued a number of circulars addressing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Council of Ireland (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 61 together. The Teaching Council was established on a statutory basis in March 2006. The information requested by the Deputy in respect of the financial statements of the Teaching Council since its establishment is set out in the attached table. This information is also available on the Teaching Council's website as part of its published financial...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Plean Teanga (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Is é an bunchritéar, agus scoil á roghnú le bheith rannpháirteach i scéim DEIS, leibhéal míbhuntáiste na scoile i gcomparáid le scoileanna eile. Tar éis próiseas aitheantais, ar aon dul le dea-chleachtas idirnáisiúnta, inar úsáideadh na foinsí sonraí ab fhearr dá raibh ar fáil, roghnaíodh...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on the Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing arrangements for the current school year 2013/14 are set out in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers has applied to my Department for large scale capital funding to provide a new school building. The current status of all projects on the school building programme, including the school in question, may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie. In view of the financial constraints imposed by the need, as outlined in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the number of applications for major school capital works with my Department is in excess of 1,000 at both primary and post primary levels. The current position of such projects may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie, which is updated regularly. Projects are grouped into various categories including projects at application stage, in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the previous Government, as part of the Programme for National Recovery, introduced a cap on the number of Special Needs Assistants. This figure was set at 10,575 posts and has remained in place since the 2011/12 school year. Since the cap was introduced, every child meeting the criteria for access to SNA support has received this support, with some remaining...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Reports (14 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: A review of the configuration and development of post-primary provision for Limerick city and part of its environs over the period 2014 to 2024 for the Department was commenced by George O'Callaghan in October 2013. It is anticipated that the report concerned will be made available, when completed.