Results 281-300 of 10,459 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Oireachtas Members' Remuneration (5 Feb 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I would advise the Deputy that the following is a breakdown of the mileage claims for Minister of State Thomas Byrne for the years 2023 and 2024. (Minister of State O'Donovan's mileage claims would have been managed by OPW). 2023 Minister Thomas Byrne 3,043.05 January 2,426.23 February 1,917.47 March ...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Staff (5 Feb 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Staffing numbers are managed in line with Guidelines on Staffing of Ministerial Offices issued by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, this includes both civil servants and ministerial personal appointments. Under the guidelines, the number of staff in a Minister’s Private Office may not exceed 10. Within these staffing limits, under Section 11(1)(a) of...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Sports Events (5 Feb 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The designation of major sporting and cultural events for free to air broadcasting is a statutory process, provided for under the Broadcasting Act, with the criteria for deciding which events should be designated set out in the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive. This allows Member States to designate certain events as being of major importance to society, including sports...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Departmental Staff (5 Feb 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Preparations for Ireland’s Presidency have commenced in this Department with officials from the Department attending Inter-Departmental Groups on Presidency Policy Planning and Operational Presidency Planning. This Department supports the Government initiative "A Career for EU”, Ireland’s strategy to increase Irish representation in the European Union's Institutions...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The number of staff from my Department who were on a career break in 2023 and 2024, is set out in the below tables. The information in respect of state bodies, within the scope of the Deputy’s question, is not held by my Department. Contact details for these bodies are set out in the third table below, should the Deputy wish to contact the aegis bodies directly with his query. 2023 ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: In my Department, staff vacancy figures are recorded on a quarterly basis. The number of staff vacancies by grade were first formally recorded in Quarter 3 2023. The total number of staff vacancies broken down by grade for Quarters 3 and 4 in 2023 and Quarters 1 to 4 in 2024 are set out in the tables below. The information in respect of state bodies, within the scope of the Deputy’s...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: As my Department was established in August 2020, there are no staff members on a career break beyond five years.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capital Expenditure Programme (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The following table sets out the ongoing capital building projects co-funded by my Department. The funding in question is channelled through the Higher Education Authority for disbursement to higher education institutions. Name of HEI Project Name DFHERIS Allocation Completion Date Funding Programme MU Technology Society...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Consultations (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: My Department has commissioned 10 external consultant reports in 2024 to date. The following table reflects the expenditure on these consultancy fees as requested. External Consultant Report Company Date of Publication Total Cost (€) Including apprentices in the national minimum wage - A Discussion Paper John McGrath ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: A new Student Accommodation Strategy is in development following Government approval of the long-term Policy in January 2024. The Strategy aims to increase supply of state supported student accommodation, reduce the cost of delivery through development of standardised design guidance, promote efficient use of existing building stock through refurbishment and an examination of vacancy, while...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Deputy will be aware that Budget 2025 contains a package of measures to support households with the cost-of-living. These cost-of-living measures include a €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee payable by higher education undergraduate students that are eligible for the Free Fees Initiative (FFI). Postgraduate courses are not approved courses under the Free Fees...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I would like to thank the Deputy for your correspondence in relation to steps my Department is taking to address gender-based violence and harassment in higher educational institutions. The Government takes a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, as is set out in the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Thank you for raising this matter with me. It is important to note that the Student Assistant Fund (SAF) is a separate fund to the 1916 Bursary and ineligibility for the 1916 Bursary does not make the student ineligible for the SAF. As Deputy is aware Higher Education Institutes are autonomous bodies, both academically and administratively, and therefore, the Department is not in a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Research Funding (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Research and Innovation Act 2024 provided for the amalgamation of the functions, staff, and assets of the former Science Foundation Ireland and Irish Research Council. Taighde Éireann - Research Ireland was subsequently established on the 1st of August 2024. A priority during this process was to minimise disruption for researchers and to maintain the operation of current programmes....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Costs (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Deputy will be aware that Budget 2025 contains a package of measures to support households with the cost of education. These measures include a €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee for higher education students that are eligible for the Free Fees Initiative (FFI). To avail of this measure, students must be eligible for free fees and be attending a free fees approved...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Léargas manages the relevant Erasmus+ activities under the aegis of my Department. According to data held by Léargas, please see below information relating to the Erasmus+ programme - 1. The Number of Second Level Schools with Erasmus+ funding 152 Second Level Schools have carried out learner mobilities between 2021 and 2024. 2. The Number of Students Involved 1074...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy for his question. Kerry ETB are currently being supported by SOLAS in developing their Preliminary Business Case (PBC) proposal for Killarney under the FET College of the Future Major Projects fund. The development of a robust PBC is fundamental to the requirements of the Infrastructure Guidelines. The proposal put forward by KETB is one of twelve projects that are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Appointments to State Boards (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I can confirm that since 1st November 2024, there has been one appointment to one state board. This was the reappointment of the SOLAS Chair, Mr Seán Aylward, on 13th November 2024. Appointments to Boards, Bodies and Agencies under the aegis of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science are updated and published on the website below: ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Higher Education Authority (HEA) provides information in relation to bursaries and scholarships available at hea.ie/funding-governance-performance/funding/student-financ e/other-finance-bursaries-scholarships/. Apart from the Student Grant Scheme, there are various other supports that may be available to third level students: Students in third-level institutions experiencing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (22 Jan 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank Deputy Murphy for his questions which I will address separately as below: 1. Graduation Costs: With regard to the matter of the cost of graduation ceremonies, our universities and technological universities are autonomous institutions as provided for in the Universities Act 1997. Therefore the management of their day to day functions, including the management of graduation...