Results 2,061-2,080 of 6,374 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Ba mhaith liom cuidiú le mo chara agus leis an méid atá ráite ag an Teachta Gould. Is scéal dearfach é sin. D'éirigh go hiontach leis an scoil in ainneoin nach bhfuil foirgnimh aici le breis is 30 bliain. It has been a very long and difficult road for this school, but despite that it has thrived. I am encouraged by what the Minister has said, but I hope...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 63. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will establish an expert review group to examine the minimum qualifications of special need assistants; if recommendations will be issued in relation to same; if she will delay contract negotiations until this review has taken place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23693/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: We spoke earlier about SNAs and the respect shown to them. One of the key demands they are making now relates to respect and their qualification criteria. The request is not big or excessive. It is that there would be an independent review to examine the minimum essential qualifications of SNAs. Will the Minister of State commit to such a review and the implementation of its recommendations?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The short version of the Minister of State's answer is that the Department will look at this matter in a few years. I am trying to imagine an alternative discussion. Imagine the UCD course did not exist. We might figure out exactly what we are asking SNAs to do before we design a course. The course is very beneficial. There were difficulties with accreditation and we had many debates...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Again, this is pushing the issue down the road for a few years. Let us play this forward. The Department carries out the review and there are public sector pay talks, followed, I presume, by an agreement. I then come back and raise the question of holding an independent review in, say, a year and I am told there was a review of the contract and it is the way it is. The public sector pay...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It is not dismissed. Can I correct that?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The issue of lower levels of pay for SNAs, and their significant disparity, has been raised on several occasions. I urge the Minister to look at that because SNAs are very often crucial in providing the programme. A significant issue raised each year is that of the late payment of staff who volunteer their time to facilitate summer provision. This comes in the context of many schools and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 61. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of her plans to encourage as many schools, teachers and special needs assistants as possible to facilitate the summer provision programme in 2022; if the early payment of all staff involved will be guaranteed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23692/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The summer provision programme is vitally important. Eight weeks and more is an incredibly long time for children who are autistic or have profound intellectual disabilities or other special needs not to have any contact with education. That is why the programme is so crucial. Very often, parents find that the programme does not last long enough or that they are unable to find a tutor or...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I welcome the review of the programme. Some of the measures outlined will indeed assist. Last year, a significant number of schools contacted me about delays in providing details of the summer provision programme, which prevented them from being able to provide the programme to students. The timeframe meant they did not have time to prepare and organise summer provision. I wrote to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Costs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 59. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps that she will take to reduce back-to-school costs for parents including the cost of schoolbooks, uniforms and voluntary contributions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23688/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Costs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Parents will be very much starting to worry about how they will pay for the next school year. It is always an enormous expense of several hundred euro and often more than €1,000 for families that have multiple children in school, for books, uniforms and voluntary contributions. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that families are grappling with, so what will the Minister...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Costs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: People across the State are doing all they can to keep up with sky-high bills and runaway price increases. The cost-of-living crisis is not new and it has been going on in education for some time. The idea that we have a free education system at primary- and post-primary levels is a myth. The Department of Education is one of the only Departments that has not put forward any serious...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Costs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The Minister said I must take a more holistic view. I very much welcome the expansion in DEIS. While I would have appreciated more engagement at the time, I very much welcomed it. It is very beneficial, but it is focused on tackling disadvantage and ensuring that every student has the same opportunity to progress. It is not focused on reducing costs, which affect every family across the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 80. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools that lodged an appeal to be reconsidered for DEIS status; and when schools will find out whether their appeal has been successful. [23700/22]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 86. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of her plans to ensure that there is uniform, comprehensive and inclusive relationship and sexuality education in all schools; and if she will provide an update on the review by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment of the relationships and sex education curriculum. [23698/22]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 142. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent of forward planning undertaken by her Department to ensure that all children with special educational needs receive a suitable school place in their local area. [23697/22]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 156. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the roll-out of the front-loading allocation model of special needs assistants; and if she will publish the criteria used to determine this allocation. [23696/22]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (11 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 173. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the ability to bank special education teaching hours has been removed from schools; and if so, if this decision will be reversed given the ongoing teacher supply crisis. [23767/22]

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Tacaím leis an moladh ón Teachta Ó Broin. Is léir nach bhfuil na spriocanna atá ag an Roinn dóthanach go leor agus ní chuireann siad os ár gcomhair go leor tithe inacmhainne. Tá an ghéarchéim tithíochta ag éirí níos measa ar go slite, go mór mór le roinnt míonna anuas. As previous speakers have...