Results 4,141-4,160 of 13,291 for speaker:Joe McHugh

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The planning application for the school to which the Deputy refers was submitted to Fingal County Council on 17 April, 2019 for development of interim accommodation within the grounds of the existing car park at 85/87 Main Street, Swords.  A request for Further Information received on 10th June, 2019 from the local authority is currently being finalised and a response is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Data (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The status of large-scale projects being delivered under the school building programme was last updated on my Department's website on May 31st 2019. For the purposes of this response, the data attached reflects current status.   There are 34 projects that are currently progressing through Stage 2a of Architectural Planning. Information in relation to when each of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Data (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The status of large-scale projects being delivered under the school building programme was last updated on my Department's website on May 31st 2019. For the purposes of this response, the data reflects current status on those projects. There are 9 projects that are currently progressing through Stage 3 of Architectural Planning. Information in relation to when each of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The funding arrangements in the Community & Comprehensive sector and the ETB sector are primarily based on budgets determined by the Department.  The enrolment in the individual schools is the main driver of the level of these budgets. The funding arrangements in the Voluntary Secondary School Sector are based on per capita grants provided by the Department.  Some...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: Budget 2019 marks the third year of a major reinvestment in the education. In 2019, the budget for the Department of Education and Skills will increase by €674 million, a 6.7% increase on last year.  In total, the Education budget will have increased by €1.7 billion compared to 2016. Budget 2019 will see numbers employed in our schools reach the highest ever level. Over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: Measures announced by my Department as part of Budgets 2016, 2017 and 2018 mean that 500 of the 600 guidance posts that were withdrawn in Budget 2012, were restored to schools from September 2018. These 500 posts are allocated separately and transparently on each school's staffing schedule.  These posts have been ring-fenced so they can only be used for guidance activities and to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Services Staff (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: I recognise the very important work done by school secretaries, and indeed by other support staff, in the running of our schools and I am grateful to them for the contribution they make to our education system.  I have spoken to a number of school secretaries about their employment conditions and understand the issues they have raised. I have recently relaxed the moratorium for those...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy may be aware my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Emergency Works Scheme Appeals (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The school to which the Deputy refers recently submitted an appeal to my Department requesting a review of its application for funding under the Emergency Works Grant Scheme to address issues with the school building.  This review has been carried out and I am pleased to inform the Deputy that approval has been granted for the works.  The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The site location for the school to which the Deputy refers was identified in consultation with the Local Authority for interim accommodation pending delivery of the schools permanent accommodation. The planning application was submitted to Fingal County Council on 17 April, 2019 for development of interim accommodation within the grounds of the existing car park at 85/87 Main...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Compulsory Purchase Orders (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: My Department does not have statutory Compulsory Purchase Order powers but Local Authorities have used their powers to assist in the acquisition of land for educational use. While the CPO process has been used previously for school site acquisitions with the assistance of local authorities, it is generally only suitable when all efforts to acquire the site by agreement and the acquisition of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: I am fully aware of the excellent work of Down Syndrome Ireland, having met with a number of representatives from that organization last week (3 July 2019). We had a very fruitful discussion across a range of issues affecting children with Down Syndrome in the education system, and I very much look forward to cooperating further with them into the future. Regarding the "See and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The following table outlines the current position of the status of planning applications in respect of 12 new schools commencing enrolment this September where planning applications for interim accommodation was required. School Planning Area Interim Accommodation Location Planning Status Primary Schools Dunshaughlin Dunshaughlin GAA Granted Glasheen_CorkCity/Pouladuff ETB...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department. Details of individual qualifications for teachers are assessed by the Teaching Council and once assessed and approved, the Teaching Council registers the teacher for the particular education sector e.g Primary, Post Primary and Further Education.  A teacher must be registered for the appropriate sector to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Scheme (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy is aware, my Department is currently undertaking data analysis in the context of resource allocation to match identified need, including the examination of variables known to be strong predictors of educational disadvantage.  All schools at both Primary and Post Primary are being assessed using the new identification model.   This analysis...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The major building project referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning Stage 2b (Detailed Design), which includes the application for statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been secured. The Design Team has confirmed that it is working on finalising the Stage 2b report ensuring it will be a "Near Zero...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The Deputy will appreciate that all major school building projects under the Department’s Construction Programme are progressed through the various stages of architectural planning in accordance with the Department’s Design Team Procedures, Building Control Regulations and Public Works Contract requirements and that as the funding is exchequer funding the process and costs...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The information requested is being collated by my Department and I will forward it directly to the Deputy when this work has been completed.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: I propose to take Questions Nos. 264 and 265 together. The Deputy has clarified with my office that he is referring to my Departments Home Tuition Grant Scheme. Home Tuition is provided as an interim measure until a school placement becomes available. The scheme also makes provision for early educational intervention for children with Autism aged from 2.5 - 5 years who meet the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Data (9 Jul 2019)

Joe McHugh: The information requested by the Deputy is in the following table. - 2017/18 2018/19 Primary (Mainstream and Special Schools) 563,459 567,772 Second-level 357,408 362,899 Third-level (Full-time Undergraduate and Postgraduate Enrolments) 183,642 n/a Note Primary and Second-level statistics are derived from the annual Census of all Department-aided schools. The figure for Second-level does...