Results 4,781-4,800 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: This year my Department published “Forbairt 2023 Annual Statement of Priorities”, a statement of priority actions to be delivered in 2023 that elaborates upon and develops the strategic actions set out in the Statement of Strategy 2021-2023, which sets out the vision, mission and strategic goals that guides the Department’s work programme for the 2021-2023 period. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I was delighted to launch together with the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Ossian Smyth the Solar for Schools scheme . It will allow up to 4,000 schools nationwide to get solar PV panels to reduce their energy bills and their carbon emissions. This ties in with the strong ethos of environmental awareness and climate sustainability among our...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: Since 2020 we have invested in the region of €3.5 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 690 school building projects with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects. School building projects at construction involve an overall State investment of over €1.2 billion. There are also over 200 modular accommodation...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: Temporary prefab accommodation in schools may be rented or purchased and funded by the Department or by the school authority itself, with or without Department sanction. As the Deputy will appreciate, within the context of a rapidly increasing school population combined with arriving Ukrainian children, my Department's priority is to ensure that every child has access to a physical school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. The vast majority of sanctioned teacher positions are filled. The rate of resignation and retirement is very low by any standard and is consistent with previous years. The recruitment and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department has provided reference to guidelines for school fencing in its School Design Guidelines which are available on the Department's website. I am including an extract from the guidance documents below in response to the Deputy's query. As can be seen, there is provision for flexibility in the design of the boundary fencing, relative to the specific circumstances of the school....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/23 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The requested information is being compiled by the Department and will be released as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (14 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System (or GIS) to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit Data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. In addition,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school in question was approved funding under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme for the provision of 9 mainstream classrooms, 2 SET rooms, 2 classroom SEN base and ancillary. My Department received a pre stage 1 report, and requested further clarification on some aspects of the information submitted directly with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department does not have information regarding the number of pupils that did not secure a place in their first preference post-primary school. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Under the Education Act 1998, the question of enrolment policy in individual schools, is the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that requirements for school places is kept under on-going review in the context of available information on population, enrolments and residential development activity. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System, using...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available and will take some time to compile. Once the information has been compiled, it will be forwarded to the Deputy directly.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 was published last year and is underpinned by an investment of €200m to support its implementation, committed to under Ireland’s National Development Plan (NDP). The first tranche of €50m issued to all recognised primary and post-primary schools in late 2021. The previous Digital Strategy for Schools 2015 to 2020 saw overall...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: Further to Parliamentary Question No. 269 of 5 December 2023, Currently there are 455 schools renting prefab accommodation, 323 primary schools and 132 post primary schools. A total of €28m was spent on renting prefabs in 2022. It is expected that there will be similar expenditure in 2023. Below is a breakdown of the 455 primary and post primary school's rental contracts for each...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were provided...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for the Department. The Department is aware of pressures for school places in School Planning Areas across North Kildare and North Wicklow. A critical next...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (13 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that revised pay scales have been in place for new entrants to the public service, including teachers, with effect from 1 January 2011. I can confirm that my officials have checked the position with this person's current employer (Mayo Sligo Leitrim ETB) and I can confirm that this person is not currently employed as a teacher. This person is employed as a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (12 Dec 2023)

Norma Foley: In line with the arrangements set out as part of the current Government formation, since January 2021 Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my Department. TESS has three strands namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services, the Home School Community Liaison Scheme and the School Completion Programme. The three TESS strands...