Results 3,781-3,800 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers is part of a school campus project at Kilbride, Co. Wicklow. It has been devolved for delivery to Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB). I am pleased to inform you that the pre-qualification process for the project is underway and once complete and following Departmental approval, KWETB will continue with the tender process for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 161,600 children, including over 135,000 pupils travelling on primary and post primary services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine are transported on a daily basis to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 372, 373 and 387 together. I can advise the Deputy that new circulars governing the granting of exemptions from the study of Irish were published in September 2022 (Circular 0054/2022 Primary and Circular 0055/2022 Post Primary). Exemptions from the study of Irish may only be granted by school management in accordance with the criteria set out in section 2.2...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: My department provides funding for emergency repairs caused by sudden unforeseen events which require immediate action. In order to avail of this funding a school must submit an application to the Emergency Works Scheme. The school to which the deputy refers has not submitted such an application to date. My department will process any application submitted by this school and revert with a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to advise the Deputy that approval under the Additional School Accommodation scheme issued to the school in question for the provision of a 1 x 100m2 Special Educational Needs (SEN) classroom. Kerrigan Sheanan Newman Construction Consultants (KSN) has been appointed, from the Department’s Framework, to design and tender the project. This consultant is leading the project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers, was approved a project under my Departments Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme for the provision of a one class SEN base. I can confirm that the school have been approved to stage 3 of the architectural design process. In recent days, the school have noted Health and Safety concerns associated with the delay in progressing their project....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: On 5th March I announced details of a new ground-breaking scheme which provides free schoolbooks to Junior Cycle students in post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme. Special schools who have Students enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes will also receive this funding. More than 213,000 students enrolled in approximately 670 post-primary schools and 70 special schools, will benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers, has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a bundled school building programmes. The project is currently at Stage 1 of the architectural design process. The process of appointing the design team was recently completed in Q1 2024. The design team will now take the project through the various stages...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 383, 384 and 400 together. I can advise the Deputy that we have provided this information to Drom National school on a number of occasions. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant was to support schools in carrying out projects to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: I can advise the Deputy that the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant was to support schools in carrying out projects to stimulate an increased interest in STEM and included an application process as with other STEM initiatives in the past such as the STEM clusters...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: I can advise the Deputy that the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant was to support schools in carrying out projects to stimulate an increased interest in STEM and included an application process as with other STEM initiatives in the past such as the STEM clusters...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary and special schools. The NEPS service provides access for all schools to: Psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident A Casework Service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment.A...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: The project referred to by the Deputy, is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which will be delivered under the National Development Plan (NDP) as part of Project Ireland 2040 framework. My Department’s planning and building unit is currently assessing its work programme and priorities for 2024 in the context of overall requirements. The school campus project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: I can advise the Deputy that the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant was to support schools in carrying out projects to stimulate an increased interest in STEM and included an application process as with other STEM initiatives in the past such as the STEM clusters...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: I can advise the Deputy that the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant was to support schools in carrying out projects to stimulate an increased interest in STEM and included an application process as with other STEM initiatives in the past such as the STEM clusters...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: When the grant scheme was announced the Department indicated that it had funding of €1.5m available. There was a phenomenal demand from schools with around 3,000 applications received. Every application received by the deadline of 5pm on the 30th November was read and processed, leaving 2,727 schools with an ask amounting of over €25m. My Department worked to secure as much...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: The Deputy will be aware that Dublin 15 is an area of significant population growth and as part of forward planning the Department of Education has been assessing school accommodation in the area. In this regard, the Department is planning a school building for the area that will be designed to be adaptable to cater for primary or post-primary school requirements as the needs arise. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers was granted initial approval for the reconfiguration of accommodation for the provision of two special education needs classrooms under my Department's SEN Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme. This programme which draws on the Department's procurement frameworks supports accelerated delivery of the accommodation and maximises...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, the purpose of the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis and, ideally, can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. The SWS operates on a multi-annual basis for categories of works such as roof works, window...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (20 Mar 2024)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, the school in question submitted a Summer Works Scheme(SWS) application in 2019, when the current scheme opened for applications. The category that this project relates to has not yet been approved, but the project remains a live project under the SWS. I expect to provide clarity on these projects when I announce the next tranche of summer works projects, the...