Results 19,721-19,740 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department is aware that there have been some enrolment issues in the Swords school planning area for September 2017. In that context my Department is in ongoing direct contact with primary schools in the area in respect of their junior infant capacity. As the Deputy may be aware, there are 13 primary schools in the area referred to of which 11 schools enroll...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: As a consequence of the financial crisis, there was a need to enact a number of measures to reduce public expenditure so as to stabilise the country's public finances. A previous Government reduced the salaries and allowances payable to all new entrants to public service recruitment grades by 10% with effect from 1 January 2011. This decision also required that such new entrants would start...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department received an application from the school referred to for additional accommodation to provide classrooms, specialist rooms and ancillary accommodation. The process of assessing the application is currently being finalised and my Department will be in contact with the school authority in the matter shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The statutory provisions regarding “progression” are set out in the Student Support Act 2011 and secondary legislation in respect of Student Grant Scheme and Student Support Regulations. Any amendment regarding of the application of the rules around “progression” would require an amendment to the Student Support Act 2011 and the associated secondary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff Data (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 142 together. The number of staff employed through agencies under the Department of Education and Skills on the 31st March 2017 are outlined in the following table. PUBLIC SECTOR NUMBERS RETURNS - END Q1 2017 - - Q1  2017 Non Commercial State Agencies* A11.7 Educational Research Centre - Pay 30 A14.1 PDST Technology in Education (NCTE)...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts Data (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Department of Education & Skills utilises the services of the Public Appointments Service (PAS) which was established under the terms of the Public Services Management Act 2004 and is mandated to recruit staff to the Civil Service. In relation to top level management positions competitions for these are conducted by the Committee on Top Level Appointments in the Civil Service...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: School Closures (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Senator for raising the matter of Muine Bheag vocational school. It is important to clarify the position. The Education Act sets out the framework within which any school considering closure has to operate. The Act provides for the right of schools to manage their own affairs in accordance with its provisions and any charters, deeds, articles of management or other such...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: School Closures (17 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The task force is now in place under the ETB. It will engage with parents, teachers and everyone else. The key to the school's long term success is its capacity to attract students. That is vital. It has set targets in terms of the student numbers it needs to attract. That matter is being vigorously pursued. I am very optimistic because there is a pathway to deal with this and everyone...

Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: This is a new scheme and I understand people wanting to tease out what it means. First, I want to make it clear that it has been recommended by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, which is an independent body, it had been conducted with a pilot of 47 schools where it had a very positive reception. It involves an increase in the number of teachers provided by 900, so at least...

Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I hope I did not mislead the Deputy when I said there is no need for diagnostic test for a child to get support. I am not saying that diagnostic tests are no longer relevant or valuable. A diagnostic test can be valuable in the hands of a teacher in order to give an indication of what is needed. In many cases, the special learning needs of a child will be quite obvious to a teacher....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Data (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104, 105 and 117 together. The Deputy will be aware that this Government is committed to ensuring that all children with Special Educational Needs, including those with autism, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network. Such placements facilitate access to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions Assistance (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: Under the terms and conditions of the Third Level Irish Scholarship Scheme, designed specifically to recognise achievement through Irish, scholarships are awarded annually to students from the Gaeltacht. The awards paid are equivalent to the maximum standard rate of grant payable under the Student Grant Scheme and no means test applies in the case of these scholarships. The scholarship...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations.  In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Data (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not hold the details requested by the geographical area to which she refers. However, the current status of the 29 school building projects in County Kildare that are included on the Department's 6 Year Capital Programme is outlined in the following table. The Capital Programme also provides for devolved funding for additional...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is my Department's intention to relocate the school referred to by the Deputy to their proposed new location as their long-term permanent accommodation. The new proposed building will, however, require significant remediation works and my Department will be in further contact with the Patron on this matter. In the interim, the school has been advised to extend the lease at its...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department is in receipt of an application for additional temporary accommodation from the school referred to by the Deputy.  The application is currently under consideration and when a decision is made my Department will be in direct contact with the School Authorities.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is not in receipt of a recent application from the school referred to in respect of its accommodation needs. It is open to any school to submit an application to my Department if they have identified a deficit of classroom accommodation to meet increasing enrolments or to accommodate an additional teacher appointment. Application...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The core function of the redeployment arrangements has been to facilitate the redeployment of surplus permanent and CID holding teachers to other schools that have vacancies.  The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to my Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. A voluntary redeployment scheme operated on a pilot...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Site Acquisitions (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: Officials from my Department have had preliminary discussions with officials from the relevant local authority regarding the zoning of the site. With regard to specific school provision for the site referred to by the Deputy, my Department is currently engaged in a review of demographics which will determine the extent of new school provision required nationwide.  Initial projections...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (18 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to primary schools is published annually on the website of the Department of Education and Skills. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.  The staffing arrangements for the...