Results 16,241-16,260 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I welcome the Deputies' support for this. We all look forward to the time when there will be two preschool years. There is broad agreement that is what we are aiming towards. There is no policy debate on this and it is a matter of when rather than should. It is a joined up programme from year one to year six. There is close interaction and integration and very strong co-operation between...

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Once and for all, it is not off the table. There is not agreement as to how it should be implemented and we are looking for agreement. It is a good time to look for agreement because the agriculture community has never done as well as it is doing currently. That means it needs both capital and more people to go into it. At the Cabinet meeting today, we were briefed by the Minister for...

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have no difficulty in agreeing with the Deputy. All additional moneys should be taken into account. Obviously, working capital has to be kept in reserve for the operation of a business. We are considering a model that looks at verifiable taxed income and nothing else. As long ago as the 1990s, the de Buitléir report recommended that the base of assessment should be wider from the...

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Not at all.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In statistical terms, the farming community is much smaller than the self-employed community.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have consistently made that point. If it is assessed on a wider measure, rather than simply on salary or income, it can be more equitable. This would mean that more people who cannot afford to go to college will get the grants and the supports to enable them to do so. That is all that is at issue here. This is not some kind of crusade against any sector of Irish society.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I welcome the Deputy's support. I will be quite happy to debate this matter further at some future stage. We are trying, in the interests of fairness and equity, to see whether people can afford to make a contribution towards the education of their children - young adults in third level education - that is proportionate to what they have in total. We are taking account of the necessity for...

Other Questions: State Examinations Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: All third level institutions collectively decided to operate a bonus points scheme for higher level mathematics for a four-year trial period from 2012 to 2015, with a review in 2014. I would like to pay tribute to the former Minister, Mary Coughlan, who led this initiative. As Deputy O'Donovan will be aware, CAO points are matters for third level institutions in the first instance. The...

Other Questions: State Examinations Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for his comments. I agree broadly with his analysis and recommendations. Young people doing leaving certificate examinations are pretty smart at navigating their way to maximise the points they believe they can get. They will take the subject choice they feel most comfortable with to get the points they are capable of getting. Good luck to them and I am thankful that we...

Other Questions: State Examinations Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I do not accept the Deputy's last point, that the standard in maths has been dumbed down. It is certainly different and some of the third level teachers of mathematics who expect somebody ready to go into a very narrow channel of mathematics such as physics or engineering see a different kind of leaving certificate pupil. We run the system between the NCCA and the Department to ensure...

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware of my announcement on 7 November of an additional €70 million for school improvement works. This comprises a once-off payment of more than €28 million to primary schools as part of the minor works scheme and a further €40 million to facilitate the re-introduction of the summer works scheme for 2014. The summer works scheme funding will...

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The adjustments that had to be made in my Department, given my Department and the Departments of Social Protection, Justice and Equality, and Health are the four Departments that are the big spenders, and to make the corrections necessary-----

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Reductions, cutbacks - whatever the Deputy wants to call them.

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: What I have tried to do has been to protect front-line services as far as possible, which in response to Deputies Daly and Broughan, was-----

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Fee-paying schools have had their pupil-teacher ratio significantly disimproved relative to what it was for the past 20 years. The burden of carrying the adjustment, correction or bailout - whatever the Deputy wants to call it - is, at the end of the day, putting a hand into somebody's pocket to take money out when they can least afford it, in order to regain our economic sovereignty. We...

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Given we are still in the calendar year for this budget and the next budget is going to kick in later, I am not in a position to make that commitment. I can tell the Deputy the indicators would suggest that any adjustments in the education budget, downwards or otherwise, will probably be less next year than they were this year. However, we will have to wait and see because there are a whole...

Other Questions: School Patronage (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The school to which the Deputy refers is a non-designated community college under the patronage of the local education and training board, as the VECs are now known. Non-designated community colleges have a multidenominational ethos and cater for pupils of all faiths and belief systems. The Department is not in receipt of any application from the patron to change either the patronage or...

Other Questions: School Patronage (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The current system pertains to where the Department identifies the need to replace an existing school or build a new school. If the existing patron of an existing school applies for and is granted moneys for the building of a new school, the patronage will stay as it was previously. Where a new school is to be provided because of the growing population, the Department identifies the...

Other Questions: School Patronage (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am not aware either officially or informally of such a change. It has been brought to my attention in this House by both Deputies from the constituency. I will make my enquiries. The arrangement that was made in response to a local expression of community interest was the best that could be made that met the desires of the maximum number of people. If both Deputies are telling me that...

Other Questions: School Enrolments (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 127 together. Recognised schools in the free education scheme have teaching resources and other funding allocated to them on a different basis from those schools that charge fees. Continued eligibility for such funding arrangements are contingent on a school not requiring mandatory fees or payments from existing pupils or from those seeking...