Results 4,341-4,360 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Physical Education (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department does not maintain statistics on the proportion of primary school pupils that avail of swimming lessons and instructions in water safety. This is a matter for each individual school. All schools are expected to deliver the Physical Education curriculum. My Department encourages schools to make every effort to deliver the aquatics strand as one component of a comprehensive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staffing (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the NCSE, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports, including the allocation of resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants to schools. The NCSE operates within my Department's established criteria for the allocation of Special...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: An aonad has been established in the school referred to by the Deputy since 2006 to provide education through Irish at junior cycle. In the case of the school in question, my Department has provided resources in response to demonstrated demand and will continue to review whether the level of demand is sufficient to warrant the resources that have been provided. In relation to the provision...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The school referred to by the Deputy was allocated over 500m² of accommodation for special needs pupils as part of a new building that contains 8550m² of accommodation in total. Funding of €6,500 for a dedicated special class was provided in addition to €7,000 to purchase equipment for the schools multi sensory room. This level of funding is in accordance with the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers to other schools that have vacancies. The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to the Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Appointments to State Boards (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Details of Membership of Boards and appointment dates can be downloaded from my Department's website; this information is updated when any relevant changes occur. www.education.ie. It should be noted that Board appointments, while made by me as Minister, are not in all cases made at my sole discretion. Individuals may be nominated for appointment by various organisations as specified in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is currently finalising the accommodation brief for the proposed project in relation to the school referred to by the Deputy. The next stage will involve the commencement of the architectural planning process and my Department will be in contact with the school at the appropriate time. My Department is also in ongoing liaison with the school in relation to its interim...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school building project referred to was included in the €50 million investment in new school building projects recently announced as part of the Government's "Investing in Infrastructure & Jobs" Package. The project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning. Officials from the School Building Unit of my Department will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Information and Communications Technology Issues (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Work placements have a key role to play in helping students to develop the practical work place skills required by employers. In recent years higher education institutions have expanded the work placement opportunities available to students in ICT and other disciplines and the National Strategy for Higher Education recommends further expanding work placement and service learning opportunities...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm to the Deputy that there is a major building project for the amalgamation, referred to by the Deputy, at an early stage of architectural planning. The design team is currently working on the preparation of the Stage 2(a) submission. Due to competing demands on my Department's capital budget, imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: University Libraries (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Universities are autonomous statutory bodies and the management and operation of their facilities is therefore the responsibility of the college authorities. I, as Minister for Education and Skills, have no role in such matters. University libraries are provided primarily for use by students and staff and it is a function of the university alone to determine appropriate arrangements and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am very conscious that the cost of textbooks is a considerable burden on families. Since becoming Minister for Education and Skills, I have attempted to take steps to reduce the burden on families. Shortly after coming into office I met with members of the Irish Educational Publishers' Association and impressed on them the need to limit the cost of textbooks. I have also stressed to them...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: An appeal from the student in question was considered by the independent Student Grants Appeals Board on the 16th April, 2013. I understand that Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) was requested to review this application by the Board. Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland that the application is currently being reassessed and the student...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers to other schools that have vacancies. The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to the Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy, his student grant application was appealed to the appeals officer in SUSI on the 25th of April 2013. The appeal is currently being examined and the student will be notified directly by SUSI of the outcome in the coming days.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Government has protected frontline services in schools to the greatest extent possible in the recent budget and there will be no reduction in teacher numbers in primary schools and in free second level schools for the 2013/14 school year as a result of the budget. The DEIS scheme for disadvantaged schools is also fully protected with no overall changes to staffing levels or funding as a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff Sick Leave (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The following tabular statement contains the data requested by the Deputy. My colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform issued a revised circular late last year in relation to sick leave for Civil Servants which places greater constraints on the operation of self certified sick leave. - 2009 2010 2011 2012 Uncertified Sick Days 1589.10 1408.93 1292.79 987.19...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the policy of my Department is to ensure that a continuum of special educational provision is made available, as required, for children with special educational needs, including those attending special schools. This includes making provision for special school and special class placements where required. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Expenditure (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In the period following the outcome of the selection process there was an implementation planning stage for SUSI up to May 2012 when CDVEC by way of order under the Student Support Act 2011 was designated as the appointed awarding authority for student grants on 22nd May 2012. Some staffing, project set up costs and operation costs were incurred by the CDVEC in that period which the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Issues (18 Jun 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Education Finance Board (EFB) was financed by the €12.7 million contribution provided by the religious congregations under the 2002 Indemnity Agreement specifically earmarked for educational support for former residents and their families. In November 2011 the EFB indicated that it expected that the funds available to it would be fully allocated on applications already received...