Results 3,701-3,720 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (22 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Since the beginning of the financial crisis, there has been a need to enact a number of measures to reduce public expenditure. The previous Government reduced the salaries and allowances payable of all new entrants to public service recruitment grades (including teachers) by 10% with effect from 1 January 2011 and required that such new entrants would start on the first point of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Expenditure (22 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Major Building Project referred to by the Deputy is currently at an advanced Stage of Architectural Planning, Stage 2(b) which includes applications for Planning Permission, Fire Safety Certificate, Disability Access Certificate and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been secured and the Design team have recently completed tender documents. The Department...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (22 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department provides capitation funding to all recognised primary schools. The amount of grant paid to an individual primary school for capitation and ancillary services is determined by the school's enrolment, subject to a minimum grant for both capitation and ancillary services in respect of schools with enrolments up to 60, and a maximum ancillary services grant in the case of schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (22 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Due to economic circumstances, a number of difficult expenditure reduction measures were taken in recent budgets. A decision in Budget 2012 has meant that new students entering postgraduate courses from the 2012/13 academic year onwards are not entitled to maintenance payments under the Student Grant Scheme, but may qualify in some circumstances for limited fee support. Those who meet the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (22 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: As part of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), to ensure that all necessary avenues are open to applicants to receive the information they need, a dedicated email and phone line service is provided by SUSI for Oireachtas members. This was established to meet an identified need for applicants who choose to engage...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Programme Data (22 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are 836 schools in the State participating in the DEIS programme. The latest data available (for the 2014/15 school year) on total enrolments in DEIS primary schools is available on my Department's website at the following link: This link also gives the number of teachers employed in such schools. The list of Post Primary schools participating in the DEIS Programme is available on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: To be eligible for a grant, a "student", as defined in Section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011, must demonstrate that he/she has been resident in the State for at least 3 years out of the 5 year period ending on the day before the start of their approved course of study. This requirement takes cognisance of students who wish to take time out to travel or work abroad. Such students can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Welfare Service (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Educational Welfare Service (EWS) of Túsla, the Child and Family Agency, is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The EWS may be able to offer assistance and advice on securing a school placement within the pupil's area. The contact details for the EWS are Educational Welfare Service of the Child and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Administration (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under the release time arrangements my Department pays for a substitute teacher to be employed by a school to facilitate administrative functions to be undertaken by the teaching principal. Under the current arrangements the number of days that teaching principals may take as release time in each school year ranges between 14 and 22 days depending on the size of the school. Budget 2016 will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (21 Oct 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: Freedom of Information Requests (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information as requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table. Number of Freedom of Information requests received by Department of Education and Skills in 2015 up to 16/10/2015 Number of such where the period of consideration was completed within four weeks of the receipt of the request Number of such where the period of consideration was extended by up to four weeks because...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Professor Brian MacCraith is the chair of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Education Review Group. A report was submitted to my Department by this Group in 2015, the implications of which are currently being considered by my officials.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Autism Support Services (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from primary and post primary schools for special educational needs supports, including the establishment of special classes in various geographical areas as required. The NCSE operates within my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Language Schools Closures (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The English language school referred to by the Deputy ceased trading with effect from 1 May 2015. While I have every sympathy for the affected students and teachers who have lost money when this school closed, the relationship between students, teachers and English language schools is based on a private contract. In such instances there is no obligation on my Department or the State to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions Entry Requirements (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The responsibility for managing access to third level places rests with the Central Applications Office (CAO) and the higher education institutions generally. The higher education institutions have delegated to the CAO the task of processing applications to their first year undergraduate courses. However, the participating institutions retain the function of making decisions on admissions....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department provides for an extensive range of supports to assist pupils who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. In line with my Department's policy that children with special educational needs access appropriate education intervention in mainstream settings where possible, many Deaf or Hard of Hearing pupils are integrated into mainstream classes at primary and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (21 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department has not received a formal application for an increase in the allocation for the Sports Hall at the school to which the Deputy refers. It is open to the school to apply for an increase, however, this will impact on the delivery of the approved project.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (20 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The cumulative savings achieved from the small schools budget measure introduced as part of the Budget 2012 decisions are of the order of €20m. This gives an indication of the overall costs involved in relation to restoring teacher numbers in small schools. In the current school year I introduced two new policies to provide some improvement to the staffing levels of some of our...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Fire Safety Regulations (20 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Department has dealt with significant fire safety issues in one primary school building built since 2005. This arose in 2014. The building was constructed by Western Building Systems Ltd. in 2008. Such matters have not arisen with regard to any post-primary school buildings built since 2005. The Department has also dealt with building regulation issues, including some fire safety...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Fire Safety Regulations (20 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: In 2014, following a fire safety audit commissioned by the school authority, issues emerged with regard to Rush/Lusk Educate Together National School. This building was constructed by Western Building Systems Ltd. in 2008. In the case of this school a subsequent detailed fire safety assessment, commissioned by the Department, identified remedial works which were required. These works were...