Results 2,741-2,760 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Expenditure supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs in 2013 is some €1.3bn, which represents approximately 15% of the entire budget of my Department. These resources have been protected despite the ongoing severe financial position and a requirement to make expenditure savings across a range of areas. This level of expenditure includes provision for 10,575 Special Needs...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has established a Working Group to develop a proposal, for consideration, for a new model for the allocation of teaching supports for children with Special Educational Needs, based on profiled educational needs of schools. Mr Eamon Stack, the NCSE Chairperson and former Chief Inspector in my Department, has been appointed to chair this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Industrial Disputes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 110, 112 and 124 together. The context of the Haddington Road Agreement was the need to address the major and unprecedented financial difficulties facing the State. At this stage all Public Service unions, with the exception of ASTI have accepted the terms of this Agreement. The position now is that ASTI members have not accepted the Agreement and are not...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: A new apprenticeship model was introduced in September 2012 for all new registrations of Aircraft Mechanic apprentices by the Air Craft Industry. This will include apprentices spending a continuous period of 35 weeks in the Dublin Institute of Technology in respect of phase 4 of the apprenticeship programme. This phase 4 is an amalgamation of phases 4 and 6 under the previous system. No...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible for allocating Special Needs Assistants to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE published details of its first round of SNA allocations for schools in June of this year. The closing date for receipt of appeals in respect of these allocations was 30th September 2013. The NCSE made a second round...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The NCSE is responsible for allocating SNA support to schools, taking into account the assessed care needs of qualifying children. Access to SNA support is sanctioned based on a child's assessed continuing care needs, regardless of whether they attend a special needs unit or a mainstream school setting. I am advised by the NCSE that they do not retain the data requested by the Deputy. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Haddington Road Agreement Negotiations (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The position is that the scheme of Supervision and Substitution, which included a payment of €1,769, can be changed in one of two ways. The first is by putting in place a collective agreement. This occurred in the case of TUI and INTO, as a consequence of which their members have available to them the various Government commitments under the Haddington Road Agreement, in particular...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As part of Budget 2014, it was decided that FÁS would cease the payment of part of the Annual Student Contribution on behalf of apprentices attending the Institutes of Technology as part of the Apprenticeship Programme. This Budget is independent of the review of the broader funding arrangements for apprenticeship by the Apprenticeship Review Group, but is intended to specifically...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Administration (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Home Tuition is provided to children who are unable to attend school or are awaiting a suitable educational placement and for pre-school children with autism. The qualification requirements for tutors providing home tuition to children have not changed. It remains the case that Home tutors should be fully qualified teachers. When it is not possible to recruit a fully qualified teacher then...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Data (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The overall level of learning support and resource teaching for pupils with special educational needs in primary schools have not been cut. This year the number of resource teaching posts allocated to schools by the NCSE increased from 5,265 posts to over 5,700 posts. In addition, there are also over 5,000 permanent learning support posts allocated across the school system, including over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Universal Support Ireland Administration (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The service referred to by the Deputy is one element of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) and meets an identified need for applicants who choose to engage the assistance of their public representatives in making inquiries about their grant applications. In some cases, applicants may opt not to use the established...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Administration (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Education Act 1998 requires that every school, other than a school established or maintained by an Education and Training Board, must keep accounts of monies it receives and of the expenditure of such monies and that such accounts are properly audited or certified in accordance with best accounting practice. The Act provides that such accounts must be made available for inspection by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Haddington Road Agreement Savings (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision of the previous Government which reduced pay scales and allowances for new entrant public servants which took effect on 1 January 2011 had primarily two effects on new entrant teachers, reducing their pay by 10% and also requiring that new entrants start at the first point of the salary scale. The Haddington Road Agreement included a provision to address the imbalance that has...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Pupils with Down syndrome who have a Mild General Learning Disability, in addition to mainstream class teaching support, also receive support from Learning Support Teachers allocated to schools by my Department through the General Allocation Model. Those pupils who are assessed as having a more significant, Moderate or Severe General Learning Disability receive an individual allocation of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Uniforms (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have made clear that I want schools to listen to the wishes of parents in relation to the cost of school uniforms. My Department will issue the formal circular shortly. The circular will set the end of February for the completion of ballots. This is to ensure that there will be ample time for the Board of Management (BOM) to consider the outcome and make changes as needs be. My clear...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Teaching Council of Ireland is the designated authority for the recognition of qualifications under the terms of the EU Directive and the competent authority for the recognition of qualifications obtained outside of the EU. I understand that Marino Institute of Education and the University of Ulster have agreed to collaborate to assist and support candidates in the North of Ireland and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Momentum Programme Issues (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: This is a day to day operational matter for SOLAS who manage the Momentum programme. I understand that contracts issued under the Momentum programme operate on an outcome based payments system and to achieve the maximum amount of the contract the company will need to recruit the full number of participants, train them and assess them. The monetary amount of the contracts are set out below....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Haddington Road Agreement Implementation (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The provisions of Circular 31/2013, which give effect to the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013 in the Education sector, will continue to apply in the case of teachers who are not covered by the Haddington Road Agreement. It is particularly significant that the terms of the Haddington Road Agreement are more favourable for virtually all teachers than those of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 207 and 208 together. In line with the implementation of the 20 Year Strategy, a range of curricular measures are already in place to support Gaeltacht schools. The development of a new integrated language curriculum at primary level is well advanced. This curriculum will include learning outcomes specific to the language learning needs of pupils that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge (26 Nov 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Tá mo chinneadh polasaí déanta agam COGG agus an CNCM a chomhshuí. Chuir mé an Chomh-aireacht ar an eolas faoi seo agus phléigh mé go hiomlán leo é i Samhain 2012. Táim cinnte gur fearr a n-éascófar le feidhmiú mholtaí na straitéise 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge 2010 - 2030, de bharr iad a bheith comhshuite, agus, ina...