Results 3,941-3,960 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: International Bodies Membership (4 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It has not been possible to collate the information in the time available. I will respond directly to the Deputy when the information is available.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: We must understand where we all are, not just in this country but across the whole of Europe and indeed in Northern Ireland where there are reductions. People are struggling, salaries have been reduced, people have lost their jobs in many cases and businesses have had to let people go in order to survive. While we have been able to ring-fence a certain aspect of the education budget by...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy may not like the realities of the world but she cannot ignore them, in the same way as I do not like them either.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy saw what happened in Greece where the country nearly closed down and had to change. We must navigate our way back to regaining our economic sovereignty so that we control our own destiny. Hopefully, by the end of this year, we will be in a position where we will be able to borrow money on our terms at a price we can afford and be able to deploy our resources in a way that does...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The fact that we have to do it does not mean we either approve of it or like it. We do not.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: All of those measures have been looked at and will no doubt be looked again and those cases will be made but I am charged with answering questions relating to education and am trying to make the case that in a budget in round figures of €8 billion, I must look for a figure of €44 million and possibly an additional figure. Returning to the point raised by Deputy McConalogue...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: If it is required.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Of the three big spending Departments, education has been ring-fenced to this extent, and it is the only Department that is hiring additional staff. That is happening because the population is growing.

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is ring-fenced to the extent that where the student population grows - and we know it is growing - extra teachers required are being hired. That is unlike the position in other Departments. It is only to a certain extent that the education budget has been ring-fenced, as each departmental budget must amount to an overall targeted total of public expenditure. The reason for this target...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 12, 16, 23 and 24 together. I have authorised the NCSE to restore the level of resource teaching allocations to be provided for students with special educational needs to the 2012-13 levels. There will not now be a reduction in resource teaching time for these pupils for the coming school year. The first tranche of resource teaching posts have now been...

Other Questions: School Staffing (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Resource teaching allocations are being preserved at 2012-13 school year levels. I do not, therefore, anticipate any significant change in the overall number of resource teachers. The arrangements for the deployment of individual teachers within each school to undertake resource and mainstream provision are dealt with at local school level. It has been the policy of my Department for some...

Other Questions: School Staffing (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am not clear if I fully understand the Deputy's question. Is he referring to a situation where, as a result of a change in the number of pupils, the resource teacher was no longer required and that the school was over quota or is he referring to one where, because of a fall in overall numbers, the school was over quota in the context of its contingent of mainstream teachers and that in...

Other Questions: School Staffing (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I will be obliged to obtain specific information in respect of the question Deputy O'Brien posed. I do not have the full details in my possession and I would not be able to offer an explanation without them. I do not understand the reason for the discrimination or difference regarding the allocation of five hours to all-boys schools and four to all-girls schools. I will obtain that...

Other Questions: School Staffing (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The precise details sought by the Deputy are not contained in the supplementary information provided to me. It is my understanding that they were announced conterminously - that is, at the same time - in the past. I will obtain the exact information relating to this matter and relay it to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The original Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act was very ambitious in its objectives, as everybody recognised at the time, and when it was commissioned by the previous Government it was not all commissioned at the same time because of resources. My struggle at the moment, as the Deputy and other Deputies in the House are well aware, is trying to minimise the reductions...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I share the Deputy's point. As we know, there is a massive reorganisation going on in the health services but prior to that reorganisation when the HSE was established there was dissatisfaction from many of the people who were trying to access a holistic service for children with special educational needs. Great progress was made by different Administrations in regard to the education side...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 20 together. The NCSE recently published its policy advice on supporting children with special educational needs. This report makes a number of recommendations as to how students with special needs, including post-primary students, might best be supported in the future. My Department is currently considering the full range of the 28 recommendations....

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The first deadline, so to speak, in the system is the end of September this year. I hope the conclusions of that interim report will put us in a better place with regard to giving the Deputy an accurate forecast as to when the complete report would be ready. As I said in my formal reply, the NCSE advise me that it will be early in 2015. That is a long way away and I would like to see...

Other Questions: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy is aware, this is a complex area. The existing model of allocation of resources and the way the system is functioning is effectively 20 years old, and much has happened in the areas of research and experience in similar administrations across the world. I asked the NCSE over a year ago to examine the allocation model we have discussed. I got a report in the middle of May, and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: State Examinations Reviews (3 Jul 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As 92% of all students study geography, for the life of me I do not understand what are the Deputy's fears in this regard. Is it that because the curriculum will be improved, the two most popular subjects which are taken voluntarily - nearly in the main - suddenly will disappear off the curriculum?