Results 17,521-17,540 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (11 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department approved funding for the school in question in July 2013 for additional classroom and special needs accommodation. My Department has not received any request for additional funding from the school. Any request received will be considered and a response will be conveyed to the school authority.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (11 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The criteria used for the allocation of teaching posts for the 2014/2015 school year is set out in the Staffing Schedule (Circular 0007/2014) which is available on the Department 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 30 September 2013. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (11 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The school building project to which the Deputy refers is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2b - Detailed Design. Planning permission and a disability access certificate have been secured for this project. A decision by the local authority regarding the application for a fire certificate is awaited. Once all statutory approvals are secured the design team will prepare and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Expenditure (11 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: For school building projects, procedures are in place to mitigate against the possibility of appointing a main contractor who is not tax compliant. Following the tender process and before a contract is put in place, the recommended bidder must satisfy the standard requirements which are taken from the Department of Finance Capital Management Works Framework. These requirements include...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Springboard Programme (11 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Springboard is a specific initiative that strategically targets funding of free part-time higher education courses to enable unemployed people who have lost jobs in sectors where employment levels will not return, to upskill or reskill in areas where there are identified labour market skills shortages or employment opportunities. Unfortunately due to the limited resources available under the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Issues (11 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The State Examinations Commission operates a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations in the Certificate examinations, including an appeals process. Applications for such accommodations are submitted by schools on behalf of their students. Full details of the scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Appointments to State Boards (11 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: In accordance with Government policy, expressions of interest are sought through the Public Appointments Service (PAS) from suitably qualified and experienced persons for consideration for appointment to boards of Bodies operating under the aegis of my Department. Since March 2011, 27 appointments have been made from members of the public who applied through the PAS process. It should be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Schemes (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Springboard is a specific initiative that strategically targets funding of free part-time higher education courses to enable unemployed people who have lost jobs in sectors where employment levels will not return, to upskill or reskill in areas where there are identified labour market skills shortages or employment opportunities. Unfortunately due to the limited resources available under the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Bullying in Schools (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that I published new anti-bullying procedures for all primary and post primary schools at the beginning of the 2013/14 school year. The purpose of these procedures is to give direction and guidance to school authorities and school personnel in preventing and tackling school-based bullying behaviour amongst its pupils. The procedures include specific requirements in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Expenditure (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The gross capital allocation indicated for the Education sector in 2013 under the Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2012-2016 Programme published in November 2011 amounts to €415m. This was increased in 2013 by a carryover from the 2012 capital allocation and by savings that emerged on the Department's current allocation. The figure of €436 million provided in my answer to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Amalgamation (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm for the Deputy that while my Department is aware of the Patron's proposals to merge the schools concerned, I have not received any proposal from the Patron in the matter. The initiative for any amalgamation or re-organisation may come from a variety of sources, such as parents, staff, Boards of Management and patron. Any such proposal to amalgamate schools must involve...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department provides a national visiting teacher service to support the educational development of children who are deaf or hard of hearing or who are blind or have a visual impairment. Visiting teacher support for children with hearing impairment in the areas of Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal has been affected by the short-term absence of a member of staff. Services for children with visual...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Customer Services (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department has a number of internal tracking systems in place to process applications which are received in the Department. General and detailed information on a range of grants payable by the Department is available in the "Services" area of the Schools and Colleges section of the Department of Education and Skills website. Grants payable by my Department tend to be for a specific purpose...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Ministerial Meetings (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: For the information of the Deputy, I can confirm that neither myself nor officials of my Department have held meetings with Communicorp Group Ltd.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Administration (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the Home Tuition scheme provides funding to parents to provide education at home for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme was extended in recent years to facilitate tuition for children awaiting a suitable educational placement. Parents engage tutors directly and the grant is paid to the parent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Book Rental Scheme (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware from Budget 2014 that additional funding has been provided which will involve an investment of €15m to support the establishment of book rental schemes in primary schools that do not currently operate them. The Department will provide €5m in seed capital per annum over a three year period to such schools. The Department is contacting primary schools that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Responsibility for the delivery of an extension to the school referred to by the Deputy has been devolved to Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (ETB). The Design Team appointed by the ETB are currently completing the Stage 2a Submission (Developed Sketch Design). When complete, consideration will be given to allowing the ETB proceed to Stage 2b - Detailed Design, which involves...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Evaluations (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department's Inspectorate conducted more than 15,000 inspections using a range of evaluation models in the period 2010 to 2013. This included 1,346 whole-school evaluations conducted in primary and post-primary schools. The breakdown by year is as follows: 2010 (318 WSE), 2011 (391 WSE), 2012 (346 WSE) and 2013 (291 WSE). The number of whole-school evaluations conducted towards the end of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Application Numbers (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that details of all school capital works that have been funded by my Department may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie and this is updated on a regular basis. For the Deputy's convenience, a list of the major new school and extension projects that were completed nationally in 2012 and 2013 will be forwarded to the Deputy. The five year...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Reports (12 Mar 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The information requested by the Deputy is currently being collated and will be forwarded to the Deputy shortly. With regard to bodies under the aegis of my Department, the information sought is a matter for each agency and is not collated centrally. Information details of agencies under the remit of my Department can be downloaded from the Department website, the information is updated when...