Results 19,841-19,860 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Arts in Education Charter (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Arts in Education Charter, launched in 2013, has been a landmark development. The Charter is an initiative of my Department, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, working in association with the Arts Council.  Through the co-operation of both Departments and the Arts Council, good progress has been made on implementation of the Charter...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Amalgamation (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department recently received correspondence from the Patron of the schools in question relating to a proposal to amalgamate both schools. My Department subsequently sought additional information from the Patron relating to the proposal and this has now been received. My Department will be in further contact with the Patron when the additional information...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: In 2016, a total of 21,464 students sat Junior Cycle Home Economics as part of the State Examinations. 15,848 female students sat the Junior Cycle Higher Level Home Economics examination, while 2,079 male students sat the paper.  At ordinary Level 2,307 female students and 1,230 male students sat the paper. There are no plans to make the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Institutes of Technology Staff (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: A competition for the position of President of Dundalk IT was held by the Public Appointments Service in 2016. Unfortunately the outcome of that competition was unsuccessful.  It has been agreed to run a new competition for the appointment of the President using the frameworks for such a recruitment process as set out by the Office of Government...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Qualifications Recognition (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The education and training of pharmacists to first registration is specified in EU legislation (Article 44 of Directive 2005/36/EC) and consists of a five-year education and training programme, which must include a minimum of six months’ practical training under the supervision of a pharmacist. In Ireland, the Pharmacy Act 2007 conferred responsibility on the Pharmaceutical...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware the project in respect of the education campus in Buncrana was announced as part of my Department's Six Year Capital Programme.  A preferred site option was identified and officials from Donegal County Council, on behalf of my Department, have engaged with the landowner in question with a view to its acquisition.  These negotiations have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Proposed Legislation (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: I published the General Scheme of a Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Amendment) Bill on Monday 15th May 2017, following approval by Government. This new Bill contains provisions which will make it an offence to provide or advertise any form of academic cheating services such as those provided by essay mill companies. The type of approach that is proposed in the General Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department's policy is to promote a child-centred approach to education of all children with special educational needs, including those with autism, in school settings. Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational interventions, delivered by fully qualified professional teachers, with the support of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Administration (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy will be aware, the publication in February last of DEIS Plan 2017 was preceded by a comprehensive DEIS Review process which included the work of a Technical Group to consider appropriate eligibility criteria to identify the level of need in schools and to develop an appropriate methodology for a new assessment framework.   The Technical Group undertook an extensive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, is an independent statutory body established pursuant to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012. Section 7(7) of that Act provides that the Board, as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions and with the approval of the Minister, may enter into contracts with persons and engage consultants or advisers...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Extra Curricular Activities (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that religious education is one of the seven curricular areas of the Primary Curriculum (1999) and primary schools are currently required to allocate thirty minutes per day for religious instruction. However, unlike other subject areas, the content of the religious curriculum provided by schools is not set by the Department of Education and Skills. The Education Act...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Property (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: In early May, the Christian Brothers congregation wrote to me on the wider issue of the transfer of ownership of its playing fields to the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, ERST. That recent correspondence also noted the proposal to dispose of part of the lands at the school to which the Deputy refers, a post-primary school under the patronage of ERST, and it states that contracts have already...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Languages Programme (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: Educational supports are on the basis of identified need.  At both primary and post-primary levels, additional language support is provided for students who do not speak English as their first language.  English as an Additional Language (EAL) resources are designed to allow individual students to participate in mainstream education on a par with their peers. Additional supports are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The public consultation process on the role of denominational religion in the school admissions process and possible approaches for making changes accepted written submissions from 24th January to 20th March 2017. Almost 1,000 written submissions were received. 744 submissions were made by individuals, 118 submissions were made by schools and 62 submissions were made by stakeholder...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The public consultation process on the role of denominational religion in the school admissions process and possible approaches for making changes accepted written submissions from 24th January to 20th March 2017. Almost 1,000 written submissions were received. 744 submissions were made by individuals, 118 submissions were made by schools and 62 submissions were made by stakeholder...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (24 May 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 areas in our schools system and in higher education. The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants to start. I have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (24 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: Legislative Process (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, last June, the Government proposed and the Dáil agreed that the Labour Party’s Equal Status (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016 would come before the Dáil for a second stage hearing no earlier than 28th June 2017 to allow for scrutiny by the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills and for the Committee to consider submissions and hold hearings. As...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent/CID holding teachers to schools that have vacancies. Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent vacancies from supplementary panels comprised of eligible fixed-term (temporary/substitute) and part-time teachers. Circular 0074/2016 sets out the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (24 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy is referring to one of actions of the Report of the STEM Education Review Group. At the launch of the STEM Report I prioritised the implementation of 21 of the Report’s 47 actions.  One of the actions was to publish a STEM Education policy statement and implementation plan, which I intend to finalise in the coming months.  As part of the process in developing...