Results 18,141-18,160 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that in December 2013, the Government announced it was increasing the number of SNAs available for allocation to schools, to reflect demographic growth and increased demand for SNA support. The existing provision for 10,575 posts has been increased to 10,965 posts being made available for allocation by the end of 2014. This will bring to almost 11,000 the number...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to advise the Deputy that my Department has approved a special needs unit for the school to which he refers. The architectural planning for the unit is currently underway and my Department is in ongoing contact with the school in that regard. The school's design team have submitted proposals relating to the unit to my Department for consideration and these are currently being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Weight of Schoolbags (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The report of the working group recognised that many of the solutions belong at local school level and made various recommendations in this regard, such as optimum use of storage facilities, developing pupil organisation skills and timetabling. It is therefore best dealt with locally at school level rather than centrally in my Department. My Department issued circulars to all primary and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Autism Support Services (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 195 and 192 together. Providers of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) are responsible for content and development of their programmes. Providers must have regard to the Criteria and Guidelines published by the Teaching Council, the statutory body with responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession. All ITE Programmes are subject to ongoing review...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Autism Support Services (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 193 and 194 together. As the Deputy is aware my Department's position is that as each child with autism is unique, they should have access to a range of different approaches to meet their individual needs. Applied Behavioural Analysis, or ABA, is one of the approaches used in special classes for children with autism. The use of ABA as part of the range of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Autism Support Services (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 and 197 together. As outlined in my response to the Parliamentary Question on April 30th there are a range of supports available to schools in which the ASD classes operate. The supports in question are again outlined below with reference to the service each service provider specifically provides; it is not possible to be specific as the level of support...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department does not allocate classroom assistants to schools nor does it have any plans or funding to do so. All public servants are being asked to do more with less and the teachers in our small schools cannot be exempt from this requirement. It should be noted that the threshold of 20 pupils for a two teacher school is significantly below the threshold of 28 pupils that operated up to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Issues (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Residential Institutions Statutory Fund, which uses the service name Caranua, published its guidelines in January 2014. I understand from Caranua that while these guidelines are still in use, they are due to be replaced by a "plain English" version in May. Applicants who have been verified as eligible to apply move to the application for services stage. I understand that applications...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Establishment (6 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: In accordance with section 30 of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 all expenses and other costs incurred by Caranua, which is the service name of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund, are met from the investment account established by the NTMA and funded from contributions received from religious congregations. Caranua has advised that its overall provisional spend...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Funding (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the purpose of the Home Tuition Scheme is to provide a compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of reasons such as chronic illness, are unable to attend school. The scheme also provides a compensatory educational service for children awaiting a suitable educational placement and for early intervention for children with autism....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards Establishment (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Section 30 (1) of the Education and Training Boards Act 2013 provides for the composition of each Board, following the forthcoming local authority elections, as follows: 12 members elected by the relevant local authority or local authorities; 2 education and training board staff members elected by staff members; 2 members appointed by the Board from nominees of the National Parents' Council;...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to primary and post-primary schools, including redeployment arrangements, are published annually. The staffing and redeployment arrangements for the 2014/15 school year are available on the Department website. Teaching vacancies are filled in the first instance through the redeployment of surplus permanent teachers. The redeployment of all...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that, in December 2013, this Government agreed to increase the cap on the number of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) posts available for allocation to schools by 390 posts to 10,965 at the end of 2014. These extra posts will ensure that the Government's policy of ensuring that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Legal Case Numbers (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: In 2013 legal proceedings commenced against my Department in respect of six children with Special Education Needs. Four of these cases are still pending. I can confirm that none of these proceedings related to the provision of Special Needs Assistant support. The National Counsel for Special Education (NCSE) through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Universal Support Ireland Administration (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: According to figures provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) the number of students (both new and renewal) who were awarded a grant on the 2nd February 2014 was 57,456. The total number of students who were paid a grant at this date (including a fees only grant) was 56,655. Comparable figures provided by SUSI for 27th April 2014 was 59,440 students awarded all of which were paid.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Traveller Education (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The principle of inclusion is at the core of the Report and Recommendations for a Traveller Education Strategy published in 2006 and, accordingly, the focus of both current and future provision is on the development of a more inclusive school environment. In keeping with this principle, additional resources provided in the education system are allocated on the basis of identified individual...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Institutions Staff (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 and 67 together. The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the attached table. I ask the Deputy to note that the numbers of positions for the years requested include mainstream posts funded from the Core Grant, undergraduate tuition fees (including grant in lieu of fees), Student Services Charge and the Student Contribution introduced in 2011...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Staff Issues (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: The Employment Control Framework ceiling on staff numbers in the education sector for 2014 is 96,135 posts (whole time equivalent). This includes Civil Service posts and posts in a number of education bodies categorised as non-commercial state agencies.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: When the moratorium on the filling of posts of responsibility was introduced the Government exempted Principal and Deputy Principal posts in all primary and post-primary schools and these posts continue to be replaced in the normal manner. At the time of the introduction of the moratorium circa 56% of teachers at post primary level had posts of responsibility. This has since reduced to about...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training Provision (7 May 2014)

Ruairi Quinn: Recommendations for changes to initial teacher education were included in the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020. These recommendations are reflected in the Teaching Council's Policy Paper on the Continuum of Teacher Education and Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers (2011). Improvements which have been made to initial...