Results 5,101-5,120 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: Absolutely. I guarantee that we will come back with a full update to the committee secretariat. Significant work has been done in terms of the ISL interpreters, particularly. I believe that Trinity College Dublin has specific courses. Does the Chair want Ms Mannion to come in on that?

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

Norma Foley: I will come back to the committee secretariat on that.

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

Norma Foley: To be fair, I know the Chair is hugely invested in this. I do not think there is a Deputy in the House who is not invested in this. I am really committed to getting this published as quickly as we possibly can. We have to engage with the Cabinet subcommittee and ultimately with the Cabinet and with party leaders. We are engaging with them so that a slot will be available to us at an...

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

Norma Foley: I fundamentally believe in the importance of this project. As regards the school and what was made available to it, our National Educational Psychological Service teams were in the school on Thursday, the day of the incident. They arrived at the school immediately after the incident and they have been there since. They engaged with the school over the weekend. They will be in the school...

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

Norma Foley: Brilliant.

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

Norma Foley: In the first instance, an allocation of €20 million was made available to schools in the previous budget to ensure there was an opportunity for them to augment the availability of books or other resources in terms of promoting engagement with reading, appreciation of the written word and experience of the diversity of the written word, whether poetry, drama or otherwise. I believe it...

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

Norma Foley: That is it. I could not think of the phrase. Again, that is working very well in schools. It ensures that young people have an opportunity to hold a book in the same way that they would have an opportunity to have it on a digital device. We are hugely committed to that. A significant investment of €20 million has already been made to support schools and we will certainly see what...

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

Norma Foley: I repeat that I give an absolute commitment that we will come back with an update specifically in regard to this school. I will be very happy to visit at a time that is appropriate to the school. It is always a huge compliment to a school when somebody who was educated in the school goes back to teach there.

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

Norma Foley: I meet that a lot when I visit schools. It is a very happy and positive story, and an enormous endorsement of the school. I hear what Deputy Clarke is saying about the importance of ISL. We are very conscious of that and we are intent on driving that on as much as we possibly can. I want to reference the DCU bachelor in education for graduates of deaf and hearing schools, which is...

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

Norma Foley: It is a policy matter for Bus Éireann. The issue has been raised with Bus Éireann but that body is clear this is based on advice received from the Road Safety Authority. Bus Éireann has said it keeps the policy under review but it is its policy at the end of the day.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Expenditure (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, under the Prompt Payment Act 1997, and later the SI 580 2012 European Communities (Late Payment in Commercial Transactions) Regulations 2012, my Department is required to pay Prompt Payment Interest on valid invoices that are not processed within 30 days. The Department applies a daily interest rate (which is the ECB rate of plus the margin of 8%), followed by a...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Schools Building Projects (29 Nov 2023)

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

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Renewable Energy Generation (29 Nov 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 first phase of the SchoolsPhotovoltaic Programme on 23rd November. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: EU Directives (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy of a NIL response for the Department of Education.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: School Transport (29 Nov 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 Enterprise, Trade and Employment: School Transport (29 Nov 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 Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Official Engagements (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: I was pleased to meet with the Secretary of State for Education, the Right Honorable Gillian Keegan MP, on 16 November 2023 at the Department for Education offices in London. At the meeting we discussed areas of mutual interest: the use of smart phones by young people; the emerging impact of generative artificial intelligence on teaching, learning and assessment; and her proposals for...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: School Textbooks (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: As Minister for Education, I believe it is crucially important that children and young people are actively supported to access education in its fullest forms. This Government recognises that the cost of preparing children for school each September can be a cause of financial difficulty and worry for many Irish families. As part of Budget 2023, I announced a major investment of over €50...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Schools Building Projects (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department is currently in the process of finalising the brief for the school referred to by the Deputy. The implications of the school's immediate and short-term accommodation needs are being considered in terms of the optimum arrangements on site for the location of accommodation. Officials will continue to work to progress this project on to the next stage. In the interim period,...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Special Educational Needs (29 Nov 2023)

Norma Foley: In relation to EAL support, the Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile and also encompasses the Language Support (EAL) allocation that schools were allocated in previous years. All schools are advised in the first instance to review whether the...