Results 1,761-1,780 of 8,873 for speaker:Batt O'Keeffe

Written Answers — School Funding: School Funding (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: There is no record in my Department of an application from the school referred to by the Deputy for funding for the works in question.

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: In general, the Office of Public Works (OPW) procures sites on behalf of my Department. In certain circumstances my Department liaises directly with landowners on the acquisition of sites. More recently, my Department has begun interacting directly with several local authorities in relation to acquiring sites, particularly in rapidly developing areas. My Department in communications, in...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 345 and 347 together. In certain circumstances, particularly in rapidly developing areas where the provision of additional school places are required urgently, my Department may request a landowner to enter into a Building Licence Agreement to allow for the construction of a school pending the finalisation of the conveyancing process. To date, in respect of...

Written Answers — : (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: As the Deputy may be aware, the Department is progressing the acquisition of a number of sites under the Fingal School Model Agreement. The Fingal School Model is an agreement reached with Fingal County Council and is a partnership approach to fast-track the delivery of schools and community facilities throughout the Fingal Area. The intention is that the agreed approach will match the rapid...

Written Answers — Teachers' Remuneration: Teachers' Remuneration (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department. The terms of award of incremental credit to teachers are determined by the Conciliation Council for Teachers, which is the forum for the discussion by representatives of the management and staff sides of claims, terms and conditions of employment. Arrangements for the award of incremental credit for primary teachers...

Written Answers — Schools Recognition: Schools Recognition (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I can confirm that my Department is in receipt of a submission from the patron body to which he refers for the establishment of a new secondary school in County Cork. This submission is currently being examined and my Department will be in touch with the proposers on completion of the examination. The submission for establishment of the new school will be considered in the overall context of...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The school referred to by the Deputy has experienced an increase in enrolments in recent years; however, it is not considered to be in a rapidly developing area. A tender report for the project is currently under examination by my Department. The contract for the project has not yet been awarded. The progression of all large scale building projects, including this project, from initial...

Written Answers — Educational Projects: Educational Projects (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The proposal from Co. Westmeath VEC to which the Deputy refers was considered by officials of my Department and funding was not approved. This decision was upheld on appeal, and my Department wrote to the Chief Executive Officer on 26 May 2008 advising him of the position.

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: Under the terms of my Department's Third Level Maintenance Grant Schemes, which are administered on behalf of my Department by the Local Authorities and the Vocational Education Committees, the provision is that, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means, nationality and previous...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (4 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 353 and 354 together. As part of the multi-annual school building programme, the Government has invested heavily in the modernisation of school facilities throughout the country including science facilities in post-primary schools. Provision of science facilities is an intrinsic part of many school building projects at post-primary level. Typically this...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The headquarters of my Department will decentralise to Mullingar when the new office space is ready for occupation. I understand that an application for planning permission for the new building is with Westmeath County Council at present. The decentralisation of the headquarters of my Department to Mullingar will involve the relocation of approximately 316 posts. One hundred and twenty one...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: My Department captures data on students registered in primary schools via the primary school census. My Department captures data on students registered in post-primary schools via the Post-Primary Database returns. The post-primary data includes information on each student's "country of origin". These data are derived from the answers given by parents to the school authorities when...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: As the amount of legal fees and costs can vary from year to year depending on the number of cases and other variables, my Department does not retain a fixed budgetary allocation for such fees. While indicative amounts may be set aside within particular expenditure subheads of my Department once a particular action is underway, it would not be prudent to ring-fence significant amounts as a...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: I have no plans to establish an Office of an Ombudsman for third level education. All Universities and Institutes of Technology are required by law to have procedures in place for dealing with disputes which arise within colleges which also provide for reference to an independent person. Consideration is also being given to the inclusion of Higher Education Institutions within the remit of...

Written Answers — Foreign Students: Foreign Students (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Foreign Affairs were represented on the inter-departmental working group on the Internationalisation of Irish Education Services and contributed to its report, which was approved by the Government and published in 2004. Since then, my Department has had numerous contacts with both Departments regarding the implementation of the report,...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: As the Deputy will be aware from my letter to him of 30 May, my Department is currently compiling a database on the schools that are using temporary rented accommodation. As the Deputy will recall, approximately 900 schools were contacted by my Department and asked to complete a questionnaire regarding the stock of temporary accommodation in their schools. As indicated in my letter, 803...

Written Answers — University Status: University Status (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Department is continuing in its efforts to press for compliance with legislation in this area in consultation with the relevant agencies. The Companies Registration Office has already put in place a procedure whereby any business name applied for which features the term "university" will not be accepted without the express approval of my Department and the Irish Domain Registry has also...

Written Answers — Adult Education: Adult Education (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: My Department is aware of the document referred to by the Deputy. The report of the Action Group on Access to Third Level Education made detailed recommendations concerning the introduction of special rates of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students. The target group of "those most in need" was defined in terms of the dependants of people receiving long-term welfare payments, where the...

Written Answers — Inquiry into Child Abuse: Inquiry into Child Abuse (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established under statute to investigate child abuse in institutions in the State, to enable persons who have suffered such abuse to give evidence to committees of the Commission and to prepare and publish a report of findings and recommendations considered appropriate for the alleviation of the effects of past child abuse and for the protection...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (5 Jun 2008)

Batt O'Keeffe: The provisional total for enrolment at Primary level was 486,700 in September 2007. My Department is considering the results of the recently published Population and Labour Force projections by the Central Statistics Office in April and will publish updated enrolment figures soon. I will forward these to the Deputy once they have been completed.