Results 18,261-18,280 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The level of extra teaching support provided in respect of language support to schools is determined by the numbers of eligible pupils enrolled and the associated levels of those pupils' language proficiency. Reforms introduced in the 2012/13 school year created a single simplified allocation process for both learning and language support. At primary level, learning/language support...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan for 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy. A key element of DEIS Plan 2017 Plan is the availability of a new identification process for the assessment of schools for inclusion in DEIS using centrally held CSO and DES data....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: International Study Opportunities (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 190 and 191 together. The position is that under my Department's free fees schemes, the Exchequer provides funding towards tuition fee costs in respect of eligible students who are pursuing full-time undergraduate courses of study. The main conditions of the scheme are that students must be first-time undergraduates, hold inter alia EU/EEA/Swiss...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, the Department recently met with representatives of the school referred to and it was agreed that a further meeting would be convened within the coming weeks. It was agreed that this would allow adequate time for updated demographic data, taking into account overall current and projected pupil numbers in the area, and the enrolment position in the case of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Junior Cycle Reform (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Through comparing education systems internationally, it has been found that in high performing systems such as New Zealand, Queensland, Estonia and Finland, schools have been given greater autonomy and flexibility in the programmes they offer. When schools in Ireland are implementing the new Framework for Junior Cycle, they too have the autonomy and flexibility to design programmes within...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Records (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The cost per year for the past three years for the retrieval and return of files from the Department's off-site location is outlined as follows. The cost is inclusive of VAT. 2016 - €34,018.11, 2015 - €35,111.58, 2014 - €36,978.56

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Expenditure (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The information requested by the Deputy is available in the following table. Further information on this is available in indicators B1 and B3 of the OECD's Education at a Glance report, available at the following link. . B3.3: Annual public expenditure on public* educational institutions per student (2013) (In equivalent US$ converted using purchasing power parities for GDP) - Primary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme Applications (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an external environment project (Category 10) application under the Summer Works Scheme (2016-2017) from the school to which he refers. Nearly 50% of schools have applied for inclusion under the scheme which reflects a very high demand. Details of successful school applicants in respect of Categories 1 and 2 were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Records (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Expenditure to date on cloud computing since its adoption by my Department in 2015, has amounted to €24,699 (exclusive of VAT). No other costs were incurred by my Department in the past three years, in respect of third-party data or file storage.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Regulatory Impact Assessment Data (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm to the Deputy that where legislation has an impact on the regulatory environment, a RIA is carried out and published on my Department's website at www.education.ie.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for organising and planning provision for children with Special Educational Needs, including establishing special classes in mainstream primary and post primary schools. Special classes offer a supportive learning environment to students with ASD who are unable to access the curriculum in a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments Data (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 200 and 201 together. Schools are not required to report to my Department on the number of applicants who are refused enrolment and, therefore, the information requested by the Deputy is not available. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Narcolepsy Issues (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department has provided information to all schools in regarding the condition of Narcolepsy, likely symptoms and the effect of the condition of Narcolepsy on students. The information provided for schools also set out the possible accommodations which can be made for children with Narcolepsy in schools.  The purpose of providing such information to schools was to increase...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The brief for the major building project for Scoil an Athar Tadhg in Carrignavar is to provide a new two-storey, 16 classroom school, with a four classroom ASD unit. The current staffing allocation is 13 mainstream teachers, five special class teachers, five permanent resource teachers, two permanent learning support teachers and four shared resource learning support teachers. As of...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Schools Building Projects (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Since January there are new tendering requirements, but they have been designed to protect subcontractors in situations where some of them have been exposed. They are in the best interests of the successful long-term completion of projects with no adverse impact on those involved. This does not just apply to my Department, it is also a requirement across all Departments. We have to spend...

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The summer works scheme has been a valuable part of the support to schools to maintain the fabric of schools. As the Deputy knows, the last application process was for a two-year period and the applications were received in November 2015. We are continuing to work on that programme. It has ten items under which applications were made. A number of those have been fulfilled. This year,...

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: We obviously have to review the applications and make a decision based on priority.

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The work on the Bill is ongoing. As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is aware, the Bill reached Committee Stage previously and it ran into a number of difficulties both in terms of industrial relations and also issues relating to the colleges, although not in the case of the colleges to which the Deputy referred. Work is going on with the colleges to define the spectrum of colleges that will...

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy that the recommendation of the schools that are included on this occasion was based on independent analysis. Issues that were considered included the unemployment rates, the educational achievement of parents, the socioeconomic class, the occupancy of the houses in terms of overcrowding and population decline. It was a very fair and objective set of criteria.

Questions on Promised Legislation (28 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: It was only the schools with the very highest levels of disadvantage that were agreed at this stage and they represent 2% of all the schools in the country. Deputy Jack Chambers is correct; this is a first step and we plan to refine the process and we will consider other schools because there are undoubtedly schools that have a high level of disadvantage that could not be included on this...