Results 2,481-2,500 of 3,777 for speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Third Level Reform (1 Dec 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I acknowledge the work that Dublin City University, DCU, has been doing in this space. Representatives from DCU also made a presentation to the joint committee. It is exciting to see the idea and principle of universal design being applied to universities and to housing and such matters. It acknowledges that these specific interventions might be of particular use to autistic people and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: 112. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the level of cross-Departmental engagement that his Department is engaged in, particularly in respect of the critical skills occupation list, within the context of the OECD skills review that his Department has commissioned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59616/22]

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: It is a considerable Supplementary Estimate, €852 million, and yet the headwinds within the economy are such that every single part of that Estimate has good reason to be there. We can all see it from the ongoing Covid provisions to catering for Ukrainian students. Even things like general building costs have escalated. That is one point that I would receive positively. It is very...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The Minister will agree that even better than spending your own Department's money is spending another Department's money.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I thank the Minister of State for his presentation and for the briefing documents that accompanied it. I will raise five issues, which I will go through as a back-and-forth with the Minister of State rather than asking them all at once. The first relates to page 4 of the briefing. It mentions savings of €48 million, largely due to lower than expected numbers of students utilising...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is the Department doing a large piece of work to understand that figure? It is a large amount of money but I am less worried about that than the number of students, which it implies have not applied for it. I would be interested in seeing that unpacked in a little more detail. Perhaps it is not something the Department has ready at this time but it is something that we would be interested...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I thank the Minister of State. I think we would all appreciate that. There is a €9 million allocation to hire additional tutors for English as a second or additional language for Ukrainians here. That must translate into quite a few tutors throughout the ETBs. How many tutor positions does that translate into? How has recruitment been on that? What qualifications are we looking...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Am I out of time?

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I have three more questions so I had better chose the one that I like most. During statements on science week, the Minister announced that Ireland planned to join CERN. I absolutely agree that we should do it. I was delighted to hear him announce it. It does come at considerable cost and there are different levels of membership which cost different amounts. I do not see it detailed in...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary)
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The Minister of State clearly anticipated the question, as he had a note in front of him. The sum of €48 million is a lot of money. How many students does that translate into? That should be measurable in the system. Are we seeing fall-off and is that in the uptake of first year places or is it where people moving from second to third year have been deciding to defer for a year?...

Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Irish Speaking Community: Tuarascálacha an Choimisinéara Teanga agus Cur Chun Cinn na Gaeilge sa tSeirbhís Phoiblí: Plé (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Gabhaim buíochas lenár n-aíonna as a gcur i láthair inniu. Téann an plé atá ar siúl againn chuig an cheist seo: an ceart go mbeadh cumhachtaí ag oifig an choimisinéara an pionóis a thabhairt agus uair nó dhó na fiacla a nochtadh? Chun na fiacla a nochtadh, chaithfí go mbeidh fiacla ag an duine ar an gcéad dul...

Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Irish Speaking Community: Tuarascálacha an Choimisinéara Teanga agus Cur Chun Cinn na Gaeilge sa tSeirbhís Phoiblí: Plé (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: An í an fhadhb nach bhfuil na meánscoileanna againn?

Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Irish Speaking Community: Tuarascálacha an Choimisinéara Teanga agus Cur Chun Cinn na Gaeilge sa tSeirbhís Phoiblí: Plé (30 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is ceist oscailte í, ach caithfidh mé a rá go mbeinn féin oscailte na cumhachtaí sin a thabhairt d’oifig an choimisinéara. Ba mhaith liom díriú isteach ar chúrsaí oideachais ar feadh nóiméad, le toil an choiste. Glacaim leis an méid atá á rá ag an gCoimisinéir Teanga maidir le daoine atá oilte...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (29 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: 74. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the subvention available to the school meals providers is sufficient in view of escalating costs owing to the rate of inflation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59260/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (29 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: This question relates to a programme that I know is as close to the Minister's heart as it is to mine, namely, the school meals programme. As we all know, the cost of putting food on the table has been escalating for everybody in society. In that context, is the subvention available to school meals providers sufficient in view of the inflation in food costs across the board?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (29 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: This has been Green Party policy since God was a boy, going back to the time of Trevor Sargent, who was elected in the same constituency as my party colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien. I feel strongly, as a former primary school teacher, that when children are in front of us, we should feed them well. The prepared reply the Minister gave me was detailed in some respects...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Meals Programme (29 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I thank the Minister. It would be dangerous for me to tell a Monaghan woman how to spend money wisely, but we do not want to be pennywise and pound-foolish here. Our nation's children are the most precious thing we have, and we want to ensure we get a good meal into them. We have started in the correct place, namely, in disadvantaged communities and in DEIS schools, but like the Minister,...

COP27: Statements (29 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for giving me the opportunity to get out of the Chair slightly early so that I could take a speaking slot. Although it might seem frivolous, when reflecting on the achievements and otherwise of COP 27, I think of the Sergio Leone film, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". We saw much of each. I will work back, beginning with the ugly. Before COP 27...

COP27: Statements (29 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I would still like to see members of the Opposition travel to Montreal. It is important we all pull in the same direction because too often we say we would like climate action but not this one. As a House, we all need to work together, to be honest with people and to really explain the scale of the challenge and the depth of the change needed.

COP27: Statements (29 Nov 2022)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The Deputy can be quite sure that it would not be my first time on a bog.