Results 2,061-2,080 of 19,412 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: I am aware that the costs associated with accessing primary and post-primary education place a financial burden on many families each year. A number of measures are in place to support those families most in need including the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Scheme and the School Meals Programme. For the 2024/2025 school year I have secured over €68 million in funding to provide...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Child Safety (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: Tusla has statutory responsibility to assess all reports of child welfare and protection concerns. Any concern or allegation of a child protection nature received by staff in the Department of Education is dealt with in accordance with the Department’s Procedures for responding to Child Protection Concerns which come to the attention of staff employed by the Department of Education....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 161,600 children are being transported on a daily basis to schools throughout the country. This figure comprises over 135,000 pupils travelling on mainstream services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: My Department’s voted estimate for capital and current expenditure for 2024 stands at €10.9 Billion. This represents an increase of over €2.8 Billion or 35% since 2019 and includes €7.1 billion for pay related expenditure. This is the third largest budget across Government, and the largest ever investment in our schools. This indicates the strong commitment to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2023/2024 school year over 161,600 children, including over 135,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The purpose of my Department’s ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater for pupils...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: Budget 2017 allowed for the commencement of restoration of middle management posts as part of an agreed distributed leadership model and meant lifting the rigidity of the longstanding moratorium on these posts. The equivalent of approximately 1,300 middle management posts (Assistant Principal One (API) and Assistant Principal Two (APII)) were restored in our primary schools. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 161,600 children are being transported on a daily basis to schools throughout the country. This figure comprises over 135,000 pupils travelling on mainstream services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2023/24 school year over 161,600 children, including over 135,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine were transported on a daily basis to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 161,600 children are being transported on a daily basis to schools throughout the country. This figure comprises over 135,000 pupils travelling on mainstream services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: Following the commencement of the National Vetting Bureau [Children and Vulnerable Persons] Act of 2012 by the then Minister for Justice and Equality on the 29 April 2016 (other than section 20) the Department issued Circular 31/2016 to all school Authorities and Education Training Boards advising of the statutory obligations placed on school authorities to obtain a vetting disclosure from...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 815 and 816 together. The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2023/24 school year over 161,600 children, including over 135,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers, has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. The project is currently at Stage 2b of the architectural process. The planning permission for this school was granted in Q1 2024. The NDFA are currently progressing Stage 2b for the project. Once this stage has been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. The project is currently at Stage 2b of the architectural process. The planning permission for this school was granted in Q1 2024. The NDFA are currently progressing Stage 2b for the project. Once this stage has been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter my department’s pipeline of school building projects to provide a Special Education Tuition room, a 2 classroom Special Education Needs base and a user assisted toilet. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority. My department approved the school's design team to progress the project to planning and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: Since 2020, my department has invested in the region of €4.9 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 900 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes 30 new school buildings. These 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State investment of over €1.2bn....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Reform (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: The target for multi-denominational provision is the Programme for Government commitment of 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030. In the last number of years there has been considerable progress towards increasing the number of multi-denominational schools with 51 of the 52 new primary schools and 45 of the 51 new post-primary schools established since 2011 having a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: Gross expenditure on the order of €131 million was incurred by my Department on salaries for teachers and special needs assistants (including employer’s PRSI) in fee-charging schools in the 2022/2023 school year. Capital supports (building-related and ICT grants) are also available to such schools totalling over €0.5 million in 2023. In addition, specific Covid-19 grant...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 824 and 825 together. Please see below the requested data on enrolments, average class size and free book scheme. Please note enrolment and class data is taken from the final primary and post primary enrolment and primary class data for 2023-2024, which can be found at the link below: www.gov.ie/en/collection/63363b-data-on-individual-schools/ In post-primary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (23 Jul 2024)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 826 and 827 together. At primary level, teachers are allocated to schools at an average of 1 classroom teacher for every 23 pupils, the lowest level ever seen at primary level. DEIS Urban Band 1 schools receive an average allocation of 17:1, 21:1 and 19:1 for junior, senior and vertical schools respectively. Each 1 point reduction in the staffing schedule at...