Results 3,461-3,480 of 4,869 for speaker:Seán Haughey

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme. (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: It was clear from the budget in October 2008 and the supplementary budget in April that a ceiling would apply to the overall number of teachers. That was the background to the decision and I have nothing further to add. I do not believe the Department is dysfunctional; I fully support the views reiterated by the Minister: the Department is trying in difficult circumstances to maintain...

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme. (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: I take on board the point that we should concentrate on disadvantage in education. For that reason the commitments given on the junior certificate schools programme are being honoured under the DEIS programme, as well as commitments given in the programme for Government and elsewhere. We are trying to target our resources; that is why the commitment to expand the junior certificate schools...

Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme. (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: The schools have been contacted and we have had discussions with the professional development support service to see what its intentions are. We will see what arises from that process.

School Staffing. (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter on the Adjournment this evening. The Minister is committed to providing information on the allocation of teachers to schools and this is a new feature on the Department's website. The process has begun with the provision...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: The school referred to by the Deputy submitted an application to my Department for large scale capital funding for a new school. Following an assessment, the proposed project was assigned a Band Rating of 1.1 in accordance with the Department's published prioritisation criteria and it was determined that a 24 classroom school would be required to meet the short to medium term needs of the...

Written Answers — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: The majority of schools include among their pupils children with disadvantaged backgrounds. In general, most schools address the individual needs of these children without recourse to additional targeted resources. Evidence has shown that disadvantage associated with poverty and social exclusion assumes a multiplier effect where the levels are highly concentrated in schools. DEIS...

Written Answers — Departmental Reviews: Departmental Reviews (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: By way of general background information, catchment boundaries have their origins in the establishment of free post primary education in the late 1960s. For planning purposes, the country was divided into about 300 geographic districts, each with several primary schools feeding into a post primary education centre with one or more post primary schools. The intention was that these defined...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: Bus Éireann is responsible for the operation of the School Transport Scheme on behalf of my Department. Approximately 135,000 children avail of school transport services on a daily basis using some 3,300 private contractors' vehicles and over 600 Bus Éireann vehicles. Negotiations with school bus operators regarding bus contracts are a matter between Bus Éireann and the individual...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (2 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: The Deputy will be aware that the planning and timetabling of routes is an operational matter for Bus Éireann. In the last school year the service referred to by the Deputy, in the details supplied, was operating to capacity. If, for operational reasons, a larger bus is introduced for this route, in the 2009/10 school year, additional spare seats may become available. However, I should...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (1 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: Bus Éireann, which operates the school transport scheme on behalf of my Department, have advised that last mentioned family referred to by the Deputy, in the details supplied, submitted the relevant form to Bus Éireann and availed of concessionary fare paying transport in Term 3 of the 2008/2009 school year. My Department has no record of receiving forms from the other families. In any...

Written Answers — Education Courses: Education Courses (1 Jul 2009)

Seán Haughey: From September 2009, an additional 1,500 PLC places are being made available nationwide, bringing the total number of PLC places nationwide to 31,688. On 22 May these additional places were allocated to VECs and other providers. Kerry Education Service (KES) received 70 additional places, bringing their total allocation to 530.

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (30 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: I assure the Deputy that the safety of children travelling on the school transport service is of paramount importance to my Department and to Bus Éireann. In recent years, a range of measures to enhance safety and to improve the quality of the school transport service has been put in place, both in the vicinity of and on board school buses. These measures include the phasing out of the 3...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (30 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: Home school community liaison co-ordinator posts are provided on a full-time or shared basis between schools. Due to the nature of the work of home school community liaison co-ordinators, which focuses directly on the salient adults in children's educational lives, co-ordinators must be deployed to full-time liaison duties only. This is to avoid any potential conflict of interest which...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (30 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: The school to which the Deputy refers is among a number of schools that were judged by an independent identification process in 2005 not to have a sufficient level of disadvantage among their pupils to warrant their inclusion in DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. A review mechanism was put in place in 2006 to address the concerns...

Written Answers — Disadvantaged Status: Disadvantaged Status (30 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and an integrated School Support Programme (SSP). DEIS brings together and builds upon a number of existing interventions in schools with concentrated levels of disadvantage. Schools which qualify for the Urban Strand (Band...

Seanad: Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: Senator Twomey's amendment seeks to restrict the scope of financial support that may be provided under the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008, as amended by this Bill. The amendment aims to prohibit the extension of financial support that may be provided under the 2008 Act to any form of tier one or tier two risk capital. As the Senator is aware, regulatory capital comprises...

Seanad: Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: Yes, it is eligible for coverage.

Seanad: Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: Section 3 defines terms in Part 3 of the Bill. The section also clarifies that the assets to be transferred do not include assets covering additional voluntary contributions on a defined contribution basis. Following the transfer, the funds of these additional voluntary contributions schemes will be held in a separate trust for the contributing members. As for the Senator's specific...

Seanad: Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: The existing schemes that cover the people mentioned by the Senator will continue to operate, regardless of whether they are better or worse. A series of orders will be made in 2009 and 2010 on foot of this legislation. One order will be made in the case of each scheme. It will be an open and transparent process. The precise rules and regulations will be outlined in those orders for all...

Seanad: Financial Measures (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (25 Jun 2009)

Seán Haughey: I will look into that.