Results 5,081-5,100 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I do not have a figure on the number of schools but I can get back to the Deputy with that information. No school was asked to repay any moneys it was given during Covid unless it had not spent them, if I am making myself clear. No school had to repay any funding it got unless it was surplus to their spend. If schools have money left over, that goes back to the Department but if they spent...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Yes. The 2024-25 payment will be made in due course. Funding was paid in April.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The funding was for 2023-24. The 2024-25 payment will be made.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I do not have the calendar in front of me now but I can say that it was paid in April 2023 for the 2023-24 school year.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I did not say that. The moneys will come during the 2024-25 school year but the date has not been determined yet. I cannot provide a specific date in 2024 for the payment but it will come in due course. On the question on books being sent to schools, I acknowledge that everybody is very supportive of the scheme. We noted that ebooks can be used. We do not have the capacity to do...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: What we are providing are the textbooks.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: No, we provide the textbooks. Things will evolve over time. We are doing a review of how things have operated at primary level. I have no doubt there will be a review of how things will operate going forward at junior cycle and that will inform us in future. On the needs, particularly in terms of the issue raised by the Deputy, the initiative would probably be more pertinent at junior...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Yes. There will be a lot of learning from that. We had a certain amount of money at our disposal so we used that to the best of our ability at that time.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: The Deputy is referring to a school in Donegal. There is a capitation grant provided to the school. Where students from Ukraine or wherever, if they have come in particular numbers, there are additional resources, particularly in terms of the EAL or mainstream teaching posts, provided to the school. If a school has a difficulty with the funding it has and is finding it difficult to manage,...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I am not aware of that ever happening. I can only speak in general. We have the FSSU, the financial services section in the Department, which works on an individual basis with schools. We have schools the length and breadth of the country that are managing. I have seen them because I have visited them. Huge numbers of new students have arrived in schools and they are managing very well...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I have to come back to the Deputy on that.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: There is an agreement with the publishers that they will not change their editions before five years have elapsed. If there are specific instances of that not being the case, I would be happy for the Deputy to bring them to me and we will follow them up. The Deputy is 100% correct that it can be something as small as a diagram or additional visual that does not change the essence of what...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: There are almost 3,000 special classes in the system now, which is quite phenomenal given where we were at three years ago. There are 68 special classes in Clare. Seven are new classes for the 2023-24 school year, five in primary and two in post-primary. It is not always true that six are needed to form the class but if there is capacity in the school next door the general suggestion is to...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I take the point. On the positive-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: -----all new schools, particularly post-primary, will automatically have special classes. That is all the new builds and new schools going forward. We are trying to fill where we did not have capacity. It was never right that we had not adequate provision for special education. The best education is one that meets the needs of a child. I that is in a special school, it is a special...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: There are more than 17,700 Ukrainian students and others in the education system at the moment. It has been an enormous feat by the schools on the ground to accommodate these students so seamlessly. It is also interesting to note that we have the highest enrolment in our schools in Europe, which is impressive. We now have more than 136 Ukrainian teachers in our system, who are registered...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I will start with the second question. Some €180 million is spent on the DEIS scheme every year. We had the single largest expansion of the DEIS scheme last year at a cost of €32 million. One in four of our students benefits from DEIS supports, so it is significant. As regards going forward, I hear what the Deputy is saying. He is particularly invested in access to DEIS....

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. She is quite correct that there is a very ambitious programme for Dublin Mid-West in terms of a variety of projects. The Deputy has articulated them very well. Right across the country there are more than 300 projects currently at construction. Some 40 of those are actually new builds and, all things being equal, we have a budget of €1.2 billion for the capital...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I will for sure.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: Yes.