Results 3,201-3,220 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I do not wish to mislead the House, but I am not entirely sure that I have all the information in my brief for the Deputy. I will provide an explicit written response for the Deputy concerning the questions he has just asked, and I will copy it to Deputy O'Brien as well.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 62, 77 and 83 together. This year, the NCSE has received some 14,600 new applications for resource teaching support up to 20 September 2013. Already the NCSE has allocated 5,284 posts and estimates that almost a further 500 posts will be required to meet applications, including 39 applications received after 20 September, which are still under...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: This tragedy that confronts us all is not just a guidance counsellors issue, although they are central to its resolution in many respects. It is a community issue, including within the school itself. As the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, stated when we launched the document, if a person is in trouble or feels the need to access help, he or she should feel free in the first...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In June, I authorised the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to maintain the level of resource teaching allocations to be provided for students with special educational needs at 2012-13 levels. There has not been a reduction in resource teaching time for these pupils for the current school year. The NCSE has advised me that the number of additional posts required to meet the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have already acknowledged to the House that bringing guidance within quota is challenging for schools. The alternative, however, was to adjust the pupil-teacher ratio staffing allocations. Guidance is a whole-school activity, and schools have autonomy on how best to prioritise their available resources to meet the requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: School Staffing (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Guidance counsellors play an important role in schools. All that was done was to give leadership at secondary level the discretion to deploy the full array of time that the guidance teacher had in the school. It was a choice between doing that or increasing the pupil-teacher ratio. That was not a great choice to begin with, but I believe I took the better option. We are discussing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes, we analyse all the decisions that are contemplated on the menu. We have a bit more experience in respect of understanding the potential impacts.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Under the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, all schools must have a code of behaviour which has been drawn up in accordance with guidelines issued by the National Education Welfare Board, NEWB. These NEWB guidelines specifically require all schools to have an anti-bullying policy within the framework of their overall code of behaviour. The recently published anti-bullying procedures are...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The overall budgetary allocation, which is quite modest, is €500,000 for the implementation of the strategy. Deputy O'Brien is correct in saying that €70,000 was identified for a specific training programme for parents, to be administered by the National Parents Council. We will see how that unfolds. The previous set of guidelines were signed off on in 1993. These have been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: If a school does not implement the strategy and guidelines and this decision is wilful, in that the school either does not agree with the strategy and guidelines or is not going to implement them, rather than the result of the school having difficulties finding the resources, that must provoke some kind of consequence. If it is because the school or board of management need assistance or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I would like to tell the Deputies more information if I could be sure what I told them would be what happens on budget day, but I cannot be sure about that until final figures are agreed on the overall macroeconomic framework, a matter that was discussed at Cabinet today. Each Department is focused on what it wants to do or avoid in the spheres of education, justice or wherever. Other...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: We should be looking at why that is happening.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank both Deputies for expressing their concerns, which is helpful. We may need to look at areas where population is rising quickly and where there are demographic issues. We know how many two and three year olds there are and we need to consider whether our response to and intervention on the schools with realisable population increases should be quicker than is currently the case. We...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 61 together. The context for any discussion about pupil-teacher ratios or class sizes is that my Department, like all other Departments, is operating within a budgetary programme that is designed to return the Government finances to a sustainable basis. My focus is on ensuring we have school places and teachers for the thousands of additional pupils...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Contribution (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware the Student Contribution stands at €2,500 for the current academic year and is payable by students who qualify under my Department's free fees schemes. I have already signalled my intention to increase the Student Contribution by €250 each year hereafter until the 2015/16 academic year when the Contribution will stand at €3,000. The full...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Expenditure (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The policy of this Government is to ensure that every child who is assessed as needing SNA support will receive access to such support. The level of resources being devoted to supporting children with Special Educational Needs has been maintained at €1.3 billion. These resources have been protected despite the ongoing severe financial position. The ongoing commitment of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Reform (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 72 and 78 together. The Deputies will be aware that, following agreement in principle by the Government to broaden the current means testing arrangements for student grants by way of inclusion of the value of capital assets, I set up a dedicated implementation group to bring forward detailed proposals. I have received a draft report from the implementation...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Closures (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 73 and 86 together. The Government is very cognisant of the important role of primary schools in the fabric of local communities. Our overall primary school enrolment has been growing rapidly in recent years and this is going to continue. In managing the resource consequences of this, it is important that decisions on school provision and organisation are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 74, 80, 81 and 84 together. The budget for education, including the number of teaching posts that we can afford to fund in schools is a matter that I will have to consider with my colleagues in Cabinet in the context of the forthcoming budget. The decisions in relation to such matters will be announced at budget time. A particular challenge in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Guidance Counsellors (8 Oct 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have already acknowledged to the House that bringing guidance within quota is challenging for schools. However, the alternative was to adjust the PTR staffing allocations. Guidance is a whole school activity and schools have autonomy on how best to prioritise their available resources to meet the requirements in relation to guidance and the provision of an appropriate range of subjects to...