Results 17,741-17,760 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: In June 2011, I announced that some 20 new post primary schools are to be established up to 2017 to cater for increasing demographics across a number of locations. While new post-primary schools are planned for the Cork South Suburbs/Carrigaline and Middleton/Carrigtohill feeder areas, that announcement did not include a proposal to establish a new school for Cork city. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: In June 2011, I announced that some 20 new post primary schools are to be established up to 2017 to cater for increasing demographics across a number of locations. That announcement did not include a proposal to establish a new school for the city of Dublin. I recently met with an advocacy group for a new multi-denominational school for the north side of the city in this regard. My...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments Data (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos.105 and 107 together. Following a detailed nationwide demographic analysis, I announced that some 20 new post primary schools are to be established up to 2017 to cater for increasing demographics across a number of locations. That announcement did not include a proposal to establish a new post-primary school for the Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 areas. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Data (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: This information for school year 2013/2014 will not be available until June 2014. Here is a link to the provisional figures we have available on our website at the moment:

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Complaints Procedures (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: While this Department sets out the constitution of Boards of Management and rules of procedure it is not directly involved in the management of schools. Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998, the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school, and it is the Board of Management which employs the teachers at the school. The schools Board of Management...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Closures (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Work and diary commitments would not facilitate a visit to Co. Kerry such as outlined by the Deputy. I have already made clear to the House on a number of occasions that school communities should have no reason to feel that there will be a forced closure of their local school. As part of the Budget 2012 decisions, there is a phased increase in the number of pupils required to gain and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Broadband Services Provision (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: At the time when St Columba's and St Luke's schools were awarded their current broadband connections next generation access (NGA) was not available in their area. The schools were awarded the following connections: St Luke's 12mb St Colomba's 17.408mb These contracts were awarded for 3 years ending in June 2015 following a public procurement process. NGA is in the process of being rolled...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Site Acquisitions (2 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy may be aware that I signed a Memorandum of Understanding between my Department and the County and City Managers' Association (CCMA) in 2012. This Memorandum of Understanding fosters increased levels of cooperation and formalises the Local Authorities' part in identifying and securing sites for educational use. In that context, my Department is working closely with Cork County...

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for his questions, some of which I will be happy to try to answer. I will not be able to answer all of them because the overall position will not become clear until the consultation process has been completed. Labour was the first political party in Ireland to propose universal health insurance - based on multiple insurers - as long ago as 2001. At that stage, the...

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Fianna Fáil was in government for a long period and it was vehemently opposed to the idea of universal health insurance.

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Which means Fianna Fáil supports the two-tier system.

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes, it does. The unfair two-tier system that has determined the course - and many of the problems - of our health service for many years is simply not working. It does not work for people who cannot afford private health insurance or who find themselves at the back of the queue for consultants' appointments. It does not even work for those hard-pressed families which struggle to pay for...

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I am glad to hear that.

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I think the Deputy will concede that the existing model is not working satisfactorily. While we may argue with regard to why this is the case and about the details involved, I do not believe anyone could say the current system, which is extremely expensive by international standards, is working properly. Whether it is because of his political ideology or his knowledge of the British...

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: -----and made presumptions. The Deputy has not clarified the situation for himself or established in fact that there is an option for a not-for-profit health insurance model. It was established by the coalition Government in 1954 and called the Voluntary Health Insurance Board. It is a not-for-profit health insurance system. Many of the systems in continental Europe which have a-----

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I am trying to answer the question Deputy McGrath put to me and he is not accepting it. We have a not-for-profit model insurance company already. Fully 40% of people already have voluntary health insurance. It is not an option to eradicate an insurance model and go back to the British national health system as if we had a clear landscape. We are looking for a system whereby there will be...

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I, personally, along with everyone in this House who has the benefit of living in a more enlightened time than that of our grandparents, automatically and instinctively empathise and sympathise with the people who had the experience of being abandoned, for whatever reason, and placed into child care homes, which were cold places for any child who could have expected to be brought up in a...

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: It is a matter of dispute. The principal stands, that is, if sufficient and satisfactory evidence, that is conclusive and in form similar to that of other institutions where a response has been made, can be convincingly brought forward, then the Government is of course prepared to look at it, but so far we have not been convinced.

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Along with most people in the House, if not everyone, we share many of the sentiments she has expressed. I am prepared to request that the Department Justice and Equality would look again at the information to see if something analogous or comparable to that of victims of institutional residential abuse or the Magdalen laundries can provide the...

Leaders' Questions (3 Apr 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The only commission that we are committed to establishing arising from a Government decision in response to the revelations about the tape recordings in Garda stations across the country is the commission of investigation into those matters, headed up by the soon-to-be-retired Supreme Court judge, Mr. Justice Nial Fennelly. There is enough to be going on with in that particular matter in...