Results 16,941-16,960 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Ombudsman for Children Remit (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: For the Deputies information under Section 9 of the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002 the Ombudsman for Children examines and investigates complaints against schools directly with the schools' management. Accordingly, the figures requested above are not held by my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Building Regulations Compliance (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2013 require that a Building Owner (a) appoint a competent person/company as an Assigned Certifier to inspect the building works during construction and to provide a Certificate of Compliance with the Building Regulations on completion and (b) appoint a competent Builder to construct in accordance with the plans, specifications and Building...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter in the first instance for the 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 in relation to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means, it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student would...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: In the context of the necessary but difficult expenditure reduction measures announced in Budget 2012, new students entering postgraduate courses from the 2012/13 academic year onwards are not entitled to maintenance payments under the Student Grant Scheme. Those who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant under the Student Grant Scheme are eligible to have their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is in ongoing liaison with the school, referred to by the Deputy, in relation to its accommodation needs. In 2008, the school was offered the option of building or purchasing a mainstream classroom. The school choose the option of purchasing the classroom accommodation concerned. Under the 2010 Summer Works scheme, the school received significant funding to address disabled...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks Rental Scheme (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 62 together. I launched new "Guidelines for Developing Textbook Rental Schemes in Schools" on the 28th January 2013. These Guidelines provide practical advice to primary and post-primary schools on how rental schemes can be established and operated. The aim of the Guidelines is to help as many schools as possible to start such book rental...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Agencies Staff Remuneration (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Director of the Teaching Council was appointed for a 5 year term in 2012 following a publicly advertised competitive interview process. The sanctioned salary for the Post is in line with the civil service Principal Officer (Higher) Scale (€85,127 - €103,976). The current Director is on secondment to the Teaching Council from the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Education Review (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that officials at my Department meet cross sectorally with officials from the Department of Health, the Health Service Executive, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and the National Council for Special Education, on a regular basis, in order to consider issues in relation to the provision of educational services for children with special educational...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that construction of the project to which he refers commenced last July. Subject to no issues arising, it is envisaged that the project will be completed by the end of 2014.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (29 Jan 2014)

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 extension. 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 the Five...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (29 Jan 2014)

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: Student Grant Scheme Representations (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have been informed by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that the reckonable income of the student referred to by the Deputy has been assessed in line with Article 22 of the Student Grant Scheme 2013 and that the student was awarded 100% Student Contribution. I understand that his sister was not eligible for a grant due to the reckonable income exceeding...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. In this regard a Board of Management may find it necessary to restrict enrolment to children from a particular area or a particular age group or on the basis of some other criterion. The criteria to be applied by schools in such circumstances are a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language Issues (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I am committed to making Irish medium education available at post-primary taking account of the demand for such provision in an area and the availability of resources. My Department will continue to identify areas where there is need for a new stand alone Irish medium post-primary school in accordance with a threshold of demand (i.e. 400 pupils) that is considerably lower than the equivalent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gaelscoileanna Issues (29 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department's overriding objective is to ensure that every child has access to a physical school place and that our school system is in a position to cater for increasing pupil numbers. In June 2011, I announced that up to 40 new schools are to be established up to 2017 to cater for increasing demographic demand across a number of locations. These...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Data (30 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 47, 48 and 56 together. The allocation of SNA resources is not a matter for this Department but is instead an independent function carried out by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), who are responsible for processing applications from primary and post primary schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (30 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: On 22 April 2013 my Department invited applications for patronage of new primary schools to open in 2014, one of which is intended for the Galway City West (Knocknacarra) area. Applications for patronage of the proposed school in the Galway area were received from 3 patron bodies, Educate Together, Lifeways Ireland Limited and the Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board (formerly...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (30 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The position is that the higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and the day to day operations including the collection and administration of the Student Contribution, are matters for the Governing Authority of each institution. Therefore where a student withdraws from a course of study the issue of a possible reimbursement of the student contribution should be raised with the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts (30 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department currently has arrangements with two taxi firms for the provision of taxi services within the Dublin city area for Departmental officials required to attend meetings outside of its Marlborough Street campus on official business. My Department's policy for official taxi usage is to ensure the efficient and effective use of this resource and to ensure costs are kept to a minimum....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (30 Jan 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application, it would not be possible to say if the...