Results 3,461-3,480 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (19 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are 34 defined benefit pension schemes, for employees in the education sector, under my remit. One scheme is in deficit and my Department officials are working with the trustees and administrators of the scheme to address this deficit. In general the Schemes under my remit, as is the norm in the public sector, are defined benefit schemes, which provides for a pension based on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Data (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that some €1.37 billion will be spent in support of children with Special Educational Needs this year, which represents approximately 15% of my Department's budget. This provides for a range of supports and services including additional learning and resource teaching support, Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support, special transport arrangements, building...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to draw the Deputy's attention to my announcement yesterday of the new Construction Programme, for 2016-2021, which aims to prioritise new building projects and major extensions, including special schools, in areas where significant demographic need has been established. The new Programme also provides for devolved funding for additional classrooms for schools outside the plan where...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The State Examinations Commission operates a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations in the Certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Application Numbers (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am informed by SUSI that the grants processing position as at 8 November, 2015 is as follows: - SUSI has received 107,720 (65,592 New and 42,128 Renewal) student grant applications for the 2015/16 academic year of which 16,500 were received after the Priority Processing Closing dates; - 81,600 (76%) applications have been processed to completion, of which 66,200 applications have been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: SOLAS Training and Education Programmes Provision (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: There is a target of 6,000 places to be made available in the current round of Momentum. I understand that Programmes are currently providing up to 5,700 additional training and education places to the long-term unemployed and it is expected that the remaining 300 places will be made available over the coming months. The current expectation is that the Momentum programme will spend the full...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training Provision (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: As part of the Government's budgetary considerations and the Comprehensive Expenditure Review in 2011, a decision was made to abolish the payment of the grants by my Department towards the cost of student teachers' attendance at Gaeltacht courses. The grant of €637 per student per 3 week course was paid directly to the Gaeltacht Colleges by my Department. The decision came into effect...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Department's policy is that students with Special Educational needs including Autism should be included in mainstream schools unless this is not in their best interests or the interests of those with whom the are to be educated. Some Students with more complex Special Educational Needs may be supported in a special class in a mainstream school. They have the option where appropriate of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Extra Curricular Activities (18 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: In general, school authorities have a considerable degree of autonomy in relation to how their premises are managed and utilised at local level. It should also be noted that the vast majority of primary school buildings in the country are in private ownership. My Department has a general policy of encouraging the use of school facilities by community and other groups where this is possible....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: A comprehensive review of the Irish apprenticeship system was undertaken by an independent review group that reported in December 2013. Following consideration of their recommendations and consultation with stakeholders a new Apprenticeship Council was appointed in November 2014. The first task of the Apprenticeship Council was to issue a call for proposals from consortia of industry and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Data (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information requested by the Deputy for the years 2010 to 2014 is available in the table below. The information for the 2015/2016 academic year is not yet available. Teachers in Mainstream Primary Schools, Co. Meath 2010-2015 - 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 Teaching Teachers 883 907 925 947 965 Non-teaching Principals 52 52 57 57 59 Other Teachers (Full Time...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Data (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Information relating to teaching posts allocated at post primary level is not disaggregated by county. The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data relating to schools at primary and post-primary level, including the number of teaching posts allocated to schools (See table 3) . The most recent published information relates to the 2014/2015 school year. Data in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 497 to 500, inclusive, together. Capital expenditure incurred in the primary and post-primary sectors in the years 2011 to date in 2015 in County Meath is as follows: 2011 - €22.0 million 2012 - €19.9 million 2013 - €41.2 million 2014 - €24.0 million 2015 - €28.2 million I refer the Deputy to my statement on 29 September...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I can confirm that a project to provide for a new school building on a greenfield site for the school to which the Deputy refers was included in the 2012 - 2016 Construction Programme. I can advise that my Department is working closely with Fingal County Council in relation to identifying and acquiring a suitable site for a new school building for the school in question and we continue to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The State Examinations Commission operates a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations in the Certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Placement (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government is continuing to provide additional school places to cater for rising enrolments and is simultaneously diversifying the choice of school patronage available to parents. We are experiencing an ongoing increase in school enrolments and in that context the overarching priority has to be to ensure that every child has access to a physical school place. At the same time, it is a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Correspondence (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The correspondence referred to by the Deputy covered many areas and I have set out below the position in relation to each of them. In relation to teaching posts, the criteria used for the allocation of teaching posts, including GAM/EAL (learning/language support) is published annually on the Department website. The staffing arrangements for the 2015/16 school year are set out in Circular...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to draw the Deputy's attention to my announcement earlier today of the new Construction Programme, for 2016-2021, which aims to prioritise new building projects and major extensions, including special schools, in areas where significant demographic need has been established. The new Programme also provides for devolved funding for additional classrooms for schools outside the plan...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Administration (17 Nov 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to draw the Deputy's attention to my announcement earlier today of the new Construction Programme, for 2016-2021, which aims to prioritise new building projects and major extensions, including special schools, in areas where significant demographic need has been established. The new Programme also provides for devolved funding for additional classrooms for schools outside the plan...