Results 16,441-16,460 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Placement (5 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware from my reply of November 14th last of the role of the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB). This is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The NEWB may be able to offer assistance and advice on securing a school placement within the pupil's area. The contact details for the NEWB...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Placement (5 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy is aware from my reply of 14th November last, Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my Department, or in the case of an Education and Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board, refuses to enrol a student...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (5 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that, in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy, the standard rate of grant has been awarded. To qualify for the special rate of grant an applicant must meet the following conditions: 1, reckonable income must not exceed €22,703; and 2, on the 31st December of the relevant period the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (5 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that, in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy, his application has been reviewed and the student will be notified shortly of the outcome. If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Site Acquisitions (5 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm that my Department is working closely with the relevant Local Authority in relation to identifying and acquiring a suitable site for the school to which the Deputy has referred. A suitable site has been identified and negotiations on its acquisition are ongoing. Due to commercial sensitivities attaching to site acquisitions generally, I am not in a position to comment further on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The feeder area for the school to which the Deputy refers remains the same. There is an Irish language school already located in the area. The question of location for the school in question was considered in the context of providing access to both Irish language schools to the greatest number of pupils across the area.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Quality and Qualifications Ireland Accreditation (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, FETAC was dissolved in November 2012 and its functions were assumed by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), an amalgamated qualifications and quality assurance body covering both further and higher education and training. Since its establishment, QQI has been undertaking a comprehensive policy development programme, involving structured consultation with a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have been informed by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy, the documents have been received. The student applied under a change of circumstances and further supporting documentation is required. The applicant will be contacted directly by SUSI and advised of the outstanding documents. When this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The legal arrangements associated with the donation of the building referred to by the Deputy for school purposes have now been concluded. The matter of progressing with a refurbishment project at the school in question is now being considered and my Department expects to be in a position to make contact with the school authority shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grants Data (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The process of assessing eligibility for student grants between 2003 and 2012 was carried out by 66 grant awarding authorities. The reporting systems in the grant awarding authorities do not collate the information in the format requested by the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Administration (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have been informed by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that payments are made on a regular monthly basis in arrears with students in higher education being paid on the third Friday of each month and student in further education receiving payment on the fourth Friday. The full payments schedule is published on www.susi.ie. At the start of the academic year...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Administration (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Rules for National Schools were published in 1965 and over the course of the intervening period they have been updated, amended and supplemented mainly by circular letters but also by certain provisions of both primary and secondary legislation that have since been enacted. Given the many other more pressing work priorities and also the on-going changes in the primary education sector, my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (10 Dec 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have been informed by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that the student referred to by the Deputy applied as an independent student and has been requested to provide documentation in support of her claim. When this information is received and considered, the student will be notified directly of the outcome.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: A grant is payable for the normal duration of an approved course and is renewed annually subject to ongoing compliance with the terms and conditions of the student grant scheme including the income thresholds. There was no policy change in Budget 2013 to the Student Grant Scheme or to any of the student grant rates including the non-adjacent or adjacent rates of grant, or the higher special...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The patronage of the new post-primary school for Maynooth was decided in accordance with the criteria for patronage determination for new schools, which I announced and published in June 2011. All of the documents relating to my decision on the patronage for this school are also published on my Department's website. In accordance with this decision, the school will be commencing operation...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme Applications (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that further to Parliamentary Question 65, details of the 14 schools in question were furnished directly to the Deputy on 28 November last. There were a number of reasons why these schools were unsuccessful in securing funding. Due to the scale of demand for funding, it was not possible to grant aid all applications received. Accordingly, commensurate with the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to confirm to the Deputy that the school in question has submitted an application to my Department for major capital funding. In considering the application, my Department carried out a technical inspection at the school. Following the inspection, my Department sought further information from the school and this is awaited.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Redundancy Payments (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 183 together. The payment of an ex gratia amount in addition to statutory redundancy is not an automatic entitlement and while institutions are precluded from exceeding the terms of the collective agreement on enhanced redundancy, it is entirely a matter for an individual employer to decide whether to seek the sanction of the Department to make an...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Uniforms (10 Dec 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As stated in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 221 of 26 November 2013 I will not be intervening in the dress codes that schools have put in place. It is a matter for the parents in conjunction with the relevant school authorities to decide on the dress code for each school. You may wish to refer the matter of the wearing of skirts to the Equality Authority; that body holds a remit...