Results 2,701-2,720 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: What I have tried to do has been to protect front-line services as far as possible, which in response to Deputies Daly and Broughan, was-----

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Fee-paying schools have had their pupil-teacher ratio significantly disimproved relative to what it was for the past 20 years. The burden of carrying the adjustment, correction or bailout - whatever the Deputy wants to call it - is, at the end of the day, putting a hand into somebody's pocket to take money out when they can least afford it, in order to regain our economic sovereignty. We...

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Given we are still in the calendar year for this budget and the next budget is going to kick in later, I am not in a position to make that commitment. I can tell the Deputy the indicators would suggest that any adjustments in the education budget, downwards or otherwise, will probably be less next year than they were this year. However, we will have to wait and see because there are a whole...

Other Questions: School Patronage (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The school to which the Deputy refers is a non-designated community college under the patronage of the local education and training board, as the VECs are now known. Non-designated community colleges have a multidenominational ethos and cater for pupils of all faiths and belief systems. The Department is not in receipt of any application from the patron to change either the patronage or...

Other Questions: State Examinations Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I do not accept the Deputy's last point, that the standard in maths has been dumbed down. It is certainly different and some of the third level teachers of mathematics who expect somebody ready to go into a very narrow channel of mathematics such as physics or engineering see a different kind of leaving certificate pupil. We run the system between the NCCA and the Department to ensure...

Other Questions: Summer Works Scheme Expenditure (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware of my announcement on 7 November of an additional €70 million for school improvement works. This comprises a once-off payment of more than €28 million to primary schools as part of the minor works scheme and a further €40 million to facilitate the re-introduction of the summer works scheme for 2014. The summer works scheme funding will...

Other Questions: State Examinations Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for his comments. I agree broadly with his analysis and recommendations. Young people doing leaving certificate examinations are pretty smart at navigating their way to maximise the points they believe they can get. They will take the subject choice they feel most comfortable with to get the points they are capable of getting. Good luck to them and I am thankful that we...

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have no difficulty in agreeing with the Deputy. All additional moneys should be taken into account. Obviously, working capital has to be kept in reserve for the operation of a business. We are considering a model that looks at verifiable taxed income and nothing else. As long ago as the 1990s, the de Buitléir report recommended that the base of assessment should be wider from the...

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Not at all.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In statistical terms, the farming community is much smaller than the self-employed community.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have consistently made that point. If it is assessed on a wider measure, rather than simply on salary or income, it can be more equitable. This would mean that more people who cannot afford to go to college will get the grants and the supports to enable them to do so. That is all that is at issue here. This is not some kind of crusade against any sector of Irish society.

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I welcome the Deputy's support. I will be quite happy to debate this matter further at some future stage. We are trying, in the interests of fairness and equity, to see whether people can afford to make a contribution towards the education of their children - young adults in third level education - that is proportionate to what they have in total. We are taking account of the necessity for...

Other Questions: State Examinations Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: All third level institutions collectively decided to operate a bonus points scheme for higher level mathematics for a four-year trial period from 2012 to 2015, with a review in 2014. I would like to pay tribute to the former Minister, Mary Coughlan, who led this initiative. As Deputy O'Donovan will be aware, CAO points are matters for third level institutions in the first instance. The...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I welcome the Deputies' support for this. We all look forward to the time when there will be two preschool years. There is broad agreement that is what we are aiming towards. There is no policy debate on this and it is a matter of when rather than should. It is a joined up programme from year one to year six. There is close interaction and integration and very strong co-operation between...

Other Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Once and for all, it is not off the table. There is not agreement as to how it should be implemented and we are looking for agreement. It is a good time to look for agreement because the agriculture community has never done as well as it is doing currently. That means it needs both capital and more people to go into it. At the Cabinet meeting today, we were briefed by the Minister for...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is supporting the implementation of Aistear through the Aistear tutor initiative and the Aistear-in-Action initiative. Through the Aistear tutor initiative, Aistear tutors (primary teachers) deliver a suite of workshops to enable junior and senior infant teachers develop their use of play as a teaching and learning methodology. To date, almost 10,000 primary school teachers...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I might have to come back to the Deputy on the precise information he sought in his supplementary question because I believe I am correct in saying that the preschool delivery comes under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzerald, and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. There is close co-operation between the two because it overlaps from preschool to the first two or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: We have started on a journey. There has to be agreement about who will set the destination and I have set it, based on the advice I received. I take the political responsibility for that decision. As I said in Wexford, the best way to get to that destination, the best route and the speed at which we should travel, is open for discussion. Based on today's timetable, the final journey will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I respect the profession of teaching and when teachers express concerns I listen to those concerns. However, we are talking about a cohort starting in first year on one subject next September. Resources are already available to facilitate and assist this. The big change is not in the teaching of English in the manner it is currently taught but rather the difference is in a combination of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The working group is part and parcel of the clarification that the ASTI sought after the Haddington Road agreement was rejected. It is one of four items we have identified as being clear from the point of view of ASTI members and what will be a benefit for them if they vote for the Haddington Road agreement. The ASTI is in a formal dispute with us at the moment and the working group will...