Results 3,861-3,880 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government's approach to restoring the economy has helped Ireland to return to a position where we are seeing economic growth. It is a continuing improvement in our economic growth over a sustained period that will enable us to move to a point where we can look again at providing for additional teacher resources in schools which could bring about further improvement in PTR, class size and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The building project referred to by the Deputy is included in the Five Year Construction Programme to proceed to Tender and Construction. Earlier this year, the Department met with officials from the ETB regarding progression of the project. Following this meeting, further information was requested from the ETB and its Design Team, which is currently under review by my Department. Upon...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Springboard Programme (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Springboard, now referred to as Springboard+ to include the ICT skills conversion programme, was launched in 2011. It is a specific initiative that strategically targets funding of higher education courses to enable jobseekers to upskill or reskill in areas where there are identified labour market skills shortages or employment opportunities. The Higher Education Authority (HEA) manages...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy has submitted an application for capital funding for a new school. The school's request must be considered in the context of the financial constraints imposed by the need, as outlined in the Five Year Plan, to prioritise available funding for the provision of essential school accommodation to meet demographic demand. The area where...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Living Wage (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The introduction of the Living Wage Campaign is a voluntary initiative being led by Ged Nash, TD, Minister for Business and Employment at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. For the Deputy's information, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) is an office within the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform which is tasked with centralising public sector...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The staffing arrangements for the 2015/2016 school year are set out in Circular 0005/2015 which is available on the website. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally irrespective of location. It currently operates on the basis of a general average of 1 classroom teacher for every 28 pupils with lower thresholds for DEIS...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the General Allocation Model (GAM) provides additional resource teaching, learning support, and English Additional Language support for all primary schools, and is updated annually based on the number of mainstream teaching posts in each school and in order to take account of updated enrolments. Details of the GAM allocation process, and of GAM allocations...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: It is extremely difficult to make precise comparisons between the levels of grants paid and the actual costs of running schools at primary and post primary levels. However it is self evident that the maintenance and running costs for second level schools are much greater on a unit cost basis than those in primary schools. In general, second level schools are larger than primary schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Administration (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Principal duties in medium to large sized schools are carried out by administrative principals. Principal duties in small to medium sized schools are carried out by teaching principals. Circular 25/02 which is available on the Department website outlines the number of days that teaching principals may take as release time in a school year in order to assist them fulfilling their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil Data Collection (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Data on pupil achievement are essential to inform the quality of pupil learning and national education policy so as to identify ways of improving the performance of our education system. All primary schools are required to report aggregate standardised test results for 2nd, 4th and 6th classes once annually to the Department of Education and Skills. Individual pupil results are not reported...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (7 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: Educational Disadvantage (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the following table. The schools in question receive the following additional supports under DEIS: reduced class sizes in Urban Band 1 schools access to literacy and numeracy supports services for Band 1 and Band 2 schools enhanced capitation access to Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) - Urban and Post Primary access to School...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Institutions (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Higher education institutions, including Universities, are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day to day affairs. It is expected that if any issues arise in relation to the misappropriation of funds it is, in the first instance, addressed by the University authorities. As the Deputy is aware Universities are under the designation of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I can confirm to the Deputy that the school in question submitted a major capital application to my Department to provide for an extension and refurbishment works. Following a site visit in December 2014, my Department's technical staff revisited the schools earlier this year to gather further information. My Department is currently considering the options available to it in addressing the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I wish to advise the Deputy that the school building project to which he refers is at an advanced stage of the tender process. Subject to no issues arising it is envisaged that a Contractor will be selected before late December.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff Data (7 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: This Department does not hold records of staff who apply to transfer out to other Departments. We do hold records of staff from other Departments who wish to transfer to this Department. In this regard, applications for transfers to our locations outside of Dublin (i.e. Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar) are facilitated through the Central Applications Facility (CAF) which is managed by the...

Topical Issue Debate: Schools Building Projects Status (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: I thank Deputy Connaughton for raising the matter, and I take the opportunity to clarify the current position in relation to the major capital project for Gairmscoil Mhuire, Athenry. The Deputy is aware of the demographic challenge facing the education system in the coming years. Funding under my Department's five-year construction plan is focused on meeting demographic demands to ensure...

Topical Issue Debate: Schools Building Projects Status (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: Certainly I know that Athenry is a growing and thriving town. I thank the Deputy for the invitation and will try to get there. We are very much aware of the needs of this school. I assure the Deputy that we will progress the project as soon as we possibly can.

Other Questions: School Patronage (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: In addition to the equality legislation referred to by the Deputy, there is also a constitutional right to the protection of ethos. We have to operate within that constitutional provision.

Other Questions: School Patronage (6 Oct 2015)

Jan O'Sullivan: That might be for another day.