Results 4,561-4,580 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (30 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that following the recent completion of the pre-qualification of contractors, the project has been authorisation to proceed to tender. It is anticipated, once the tender period is complete, that a contractor will be appointed and construction will commence in the final quarter of this year.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (30 May 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: Departmental Budgets (30 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In the context of the forthcoming Budget, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has asked my Department to identify savings which will feed into the expenditure decisions by Government for the Estimates 2014 and the setting of future Ministerial ceilings. The identification of savings options should ensure that a sufficient range of proposals is made by all Departments to help the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (30 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The July Provision Scheme is an option for all special schools and mainstream primary schools with special classes catering for children with autism or severe to profound general learning disability that choose to extend their education services through the month of July. Children with autism in mainstream classes are eligible to apply for home based tuition, but can, in limited...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (30 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, there are two schools on this site, a Junior School and a Senior School. Both schools have temporary accommodation, in the ownership of the schools, in addition to their permanent structures and have applied to my Department for replacement permanent buildings. The next step to progressing a building project for the schools involves the appointment of a design...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (30 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department uses a Geographical Information System to analyse demographic data to determine the areas where additional school accommodation may be required. A variety of sources are used in this analysis, including census data, school enrolment data and child benefit data obtained from the Department of Social Protection. Using this system, up to 2018 a need for some 1,540 additional...

Confidence in the Minister for Justice and Equality: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have wanted to come in particularly to speak on this motion because of the confidence I have in the Minister, Deputy Shatter. I have known the Minister for a couple of decades. We have worked together in the past but never as closely as in Cabinet. He has brought a sense of dynamism and energy to the Department in a consistent and clear way and I can think of very few of his predecessors...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs Services Provision: Motion (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is the road to travel and we will travel it as far and as quickly as we can. I have been able to ring-fence the amount of moneys available for its implementation. We have capped the number of special needs assistants, SNAs, but there are pressures on the system. This year, for example, the assessment process shows there is an increase in the number of overall special needs children...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs Services Provision: Motion (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: That is the very point and outcomes have consequences. In some cases, those consequences may change the nature of the support. In this debate, we must not just measure the commitment to a policy by the amount of moneys put into it but also measure its success. We do this in our own personal lives. We adopt a course of action and invest time in it. If it is not working to our...

Seanad: Special Educational Needs Services Provision: Motion (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Members will be aware that the National Council for Special Education has a specific role under section 20 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act, to which reference has already been made, to provide me, as the Minister for Education and Skills, with expert independent evidence-informed policy advice on the education of children and others with disabilities....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department will fund over 430,000 part time and full time education and training places across the range of provision in the higher education, further education and training sectors in 2013. Unemployed participants are prioritised for places in further education and training. In line with commitments under the Pathways to Work initiative, over 51,000 places across this provision will be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Broadband Services Provision (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Under the Schools Broadband Access Programme the Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary schools. All contracts under the Schools Broadband Access Programme were re-tendered last year under a public procurement competition. As a result of this the number of service providers has been expanded from 6 to 13 with the aim of ensuring that where...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Reform (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The position is that the issue, as referred to by the Deputy, is still under consideration by my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teachers' Remuneration (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The International School of Martyrs (ISM) is a private educational institution located in Tripoli, Libya. The Irish Leaving Certificate examination is offered each year to candidates in the school. The role of the State Examinations Commission (SEC) is to provide examinations to candidates who have been entered for either the Junior or Leaving Certificate and in this regard I am informed by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: An appeal from the persons in respect of whose details were supplied by the Deputy was received in my Department on 7th May 2013 and is due for consideration by the Independent Student Grants Appeals Board on the 18th June 2013.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pension Provisions (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: There are 9,697 retired voluntary secondary and community and comprehensive school teachers in receipt of pension from my Department's retired teachers' payroll. The percentage details in respect of this group of retired teachers are set out in the attached table. Table of Retired Voluntary Secondary and Community and Comprehensive School Teachers Category of Pension percentage retired...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pension Provisions (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The pensions of some retired public servants, including some teachers, are coordinated with social welfare benefits where the pensioner had paid full rate Class A PRSI during some or all of his/her employment. Class A rate PRSI payment brings with it an entitlement to a State pension payable by the Department of Social Protection. The State pension becomes payable at age 65. As some public...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Quality and Qualifications Ireland (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I can inform the Deputy that, since his previous question on this issue, QQI have published a number of Green Papers on various policy areas which are available on the QQI website, dealing with subjects such as Awards and Standards, Certification, Access to Programme Accreditation, Recognition of Prior Learning and Quality Assurance. The purpose of these Green Papers is to inform the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I will be looking at different assessment methods in the context of the work currently taking place at primary and post-primary - both junior cycle and senior cycle. My Department will evaluate the different options in the context of their educational content and their relevance to the quality learning experience for students in the first instance. However, no specific decision has been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further Education and Training Programmes Provision (29 May 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is open to all public, private and not for profit higher education providers to submit proposals for courses to be funded under Springboard. All courses approved for funding are selected by an independent panel with industry and educational expertise, having regard to published selection criteria and following a competitive tendering process. A call for proposals for courses to be run...