Results 18,981-19,000 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: First of all, I think that some of those comments were unfortunate and could be open to misunderstanding. However, as regards the substance of the Deputy's question, Caranua is an independent statutory body established under the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 to oversee the use of cash contributions of up to €110 million, pledged by religious congregations, to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: We recently discussed Caranua in the House. Deputy Clare Daly put forward a Bill that was supported on Second Stage with a time delay, which gives us an opportunity to conduct this review. It is therefore being done according to a tight timeframe. Obviously, I want to ensure that we hear submissions into the review's terms of reference. As I have acknowledged, I think the comments as...

Ceisteanna - Questions (resumed) - Priority Questions: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: I have met survivors myself and they have expressed these very concerns. These are the ones who will be subject to the review. Of course there is a customer service charter, a feedback and complaints policy, an appeal mechanism and recourse to the Ombudsman. There are mechanisms in place to try to deal with these inconsistencies. These are standard good practices in any organisation....

Other Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: Equality and fairness are, of course, at the heart of everything this Government is trying to do, particularly in the education area where I am particularly focused on creating better opportunities for people from disadvantaged communities in our schools system and in higher education. The recent budget included measures seek to do this. The public service agreements have allowed a...

Other Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has pointed out, full restoration of all of the cuts would cost close to €2 billion and we have to make a phased arrangement. Under existing arrangements we are making a commitment of not far off €1 billion in restoration over the period of this agreement. We have the public pay commission and I know the INTO and TUI will pursue the...

Other Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: I negotiated a deal with the three unions. In the event, one of them was not able to carry the agreement. It has restored 75% of pay and delivered full equality at later points in the payscale. I know the trade unions representing teachers will go to the Public Service Pay Commission, which is an objective, fair and independent body, to assess the very issues on the table. There will be...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department's circular has set out details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools. The new special education teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for schools, based on each school’s educational profile. No school, including the school to which the Deputy has referred, will lose supports as a result of the implementation of the new...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: The model will provide for some additional provision in exceptional circumstances, where the school's new intake, in the case that the Deputy describes, is substantially different from the intake it had in the past. The school will have to demonstrate to the NCSE that this has been the case. The NCSE will work with the school to seek to resolve those issues. Additional hours may be made...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: The complex needs aspect takes into account the four cohorts. There are four years from junior infants right up to second class. It looks at the complex needs profile of those schools. That complex needs profile is delivered to the school. For that to be dramatically wrong, the cohort leaving the school must have dramatically lower special education needs than the cohort joining the...

Other Questions: Third Level Funding (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Cassells report considers a number of potential funding options, including for deferred payment of student fees. It is currently being examined by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills with a view to making recommendations on a long-term sustainable funding model for higher education. This process includes receiving input from relevant stakeholders. It will be...

Other Questions: Third Level Funding (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: No decision has been taken. We should prepare if it is intended to make a move. Part of the Cassells report is that, over the last number of years, the higher education sector grew by something like 25% with no increased State funding. The report is anticipating another 25% growth and recognises that doing nothing about this is not satisfactory. It outlines three sources of potential...

Other Questions: Third Level Funding (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: We are working on every issue that has been raised. We are looking at the employer mechanism, which obviously can be assessed by the committee, and the Exchequer mechanism. I am not sitting on my hands and waiting for the assessment work to be carried out. I am moving immediately because there is a crisis, and I am acting to deliver cash straight away, to put an employer's mechanism in...

Other Questions: Teachers' Professional Development (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: The network of education centres consists of 21 full-time and nine part-time centres.  Their principal activity is to facilitate the local delivery of national programmes of teacher professional development on behalf of my Department. They also organise a varied local programme of activities for teachers, school management and parents in response to demand. My Department is the main...

Other Questions: Teachers' Professional Development (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: Deputy Burton has raised a few issues. There is no doubt that this is a very important area. We need to look more deeply at its impact and at the quantity and quality, and that is why this review is being carried out. At the moment we have 206,000 CPD deliveries, which is up by 23% in the last four or five years. It includes substantial elements for new teachers, including induction under...

Other Questions: Teachers' Professional Development (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: The review is open-ended. It needs to look at best practice in the delivery of upskilling for teachers. At the moment it is divided into a number of education centres and it does not have a central directorate which would identify the direction we should take in the longer term. We need to ask if we need more central policy direction in this area. The education and training boards are a...

Other Questions: Institutes of Technology (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Institute of Technology Carlow already has a Wexford campus, based in Wexford Town, which offers an extensive range of award qualifications from level 6 through to postgraduate level 9 on the national framework of qualifications. My Department is also supportive of the proposed acquisition of a site in Wexford for development of the IT Carlow campus.  Funding has been...

Other Questions: Institutes of Technology (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: We have to look at what is the most effective way to develop regional strength. I regard human resource and talent development as core to the development of any region, including the south east. Any fair assessment would advise against creating myriad new institutions that do not have a solid foundation and cannot make a solid offering. This is from where the technological universities...

Other Questions: Institutes of Technology (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: We are offering joined-up thinking, while the Deputy is offering traditional pork barrel politics by asking for a university in every county. If we have small institutions that cannot deliver the service their regional base needs it will produce a second-class offering to the people, including in Wexford. I am trying to create a quality regional institution, a technological university, that...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, it is my intention to replace all purchased temporary accommodation with permanent accommodation, where the need is established, over the lifetime of my Department's capital programme, 2016 to 2021. To enable this development, my Department will carry out an assessment of the number of prefabs being used in schools to deliver the curriculum. This will also...

Other Questions: School Accommodation (5 Apr 2017)

Richard Bruton: On the positive side, compared with a decade ago we have half the number of rented prefabs. However, we recognise this is an area we need to address. Obviously, there is pressure on the education capital budget to ensure there is provision for every child. We are going through a period where 20,000 additional places need to be delivered every year, which has absorbed the majority of the...