Results 5,141-5,160 of 9,894 for speaker:Thomas Byrne

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (25 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 201. To ask the Minister for Health the status of an appointment for a person (details supplied). [3302/17]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Services for People with Disabilities (25 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 215. To ask the Minister for Health when an assessment of needs will be carried out on a person (details supplied). [3358/17]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: European Fund for Strategic Infrastructure (24 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 163. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the potential investment projects his Department put forward to the Department of Finance task force report for the European Fund for Strategic Investment. [2676/17]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Delays (24 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 433. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that patients of the neurology department in Beaumont Hospital have had appointments cancelled without advance notice, resulting in patients presenting for appointments and being sent home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2672/17]

Other Questions: School Transport Data (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: That is fine.

Other Questions: School Transport Data (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 36. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school bus routes in operation in each of the years from 2011 to 2016; and if his Department's policy objective is to reduce the number of children availing of school transport on a concessionary basis. [1895/17]

Other Questions: School Transport Data (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: The question is very simple. A number of us are trying to get to the bottom of school transport policy. It appears there has been a reduction in the number of routes and I would like the Minister of State to set out the number of bus routes operating in each of the years from 2011 to 2016.

Other Questions: School Transport Data (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: Does the Minister of State have the figures without special educational needs transport provision? Has there been a reduction if special educational needs transport is not included?

Other Questions: School Transport Eligibility (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: I welcome what the Minister of State has just said. There are also cases like this in Deputy Bobby Aylward's constituency. As the Minister of State said himself, the pass in question may be impassable for considerable periods of time. The Minister of State makes the rules and I hope he can change them following engagement with Deputy McConalogue and others. If a pass is impassable for...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: Is the rising cost in the building sector in general a concern to the Minister? Does he need to alert his Government colleagues about that in terms of funding? Will it impact on the number of schools to be built? Will schools that are on the list not get built because other projects have cost too much? One school in particular was advised by officials that the money had run out on another...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 32. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress of the schools major capital works plan. [1899/17]

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: I am looking for a general update on the schools capital programme. A schools capital programme was announced in 2015 with huge fanfare. That fanfare was not the Minister's fault but it only returns capital spending to pre-2011 levels by 2019 so we have a good bit to go. What also concerns me is the cost of projects. While this had gone down during the recession, it seems that it is going...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: I acknowledge that school building is taking place. I suppose it is a long time since the Department was not building schools in some part of the country. My children's school is the subject of major capital works and we are very pleased about that. However, building has stalled in the case of some schools for reasons that are unfathomable in many cases and this is wrong. What happens is...

Priority Questions: School Curriculum (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 29. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the implementation of the new coding curriculum in schools; the reason for the delayed roll-out of the new coding courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2012/17]

Priority Questions: School Curriculum (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: This relates to the short coding courses at primary and secondary levels. What is the Minister's vision for putting coding on the school curriculum? It has become a buzzword in some circles. What does the Minister mean by it, what impact will it have on the curriculum and what will children actually learn?

Priority Questions: School Curriculum (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: There does not seem to be a vision for this. Computer science will be rolled out at leaving certificate level in approximately three years' time, but the short courses at junior certificate level are almost non-existent. Twenty-two schools will run them next year. To my knowledge, they will not be ASTI schools, given the industrial action. For this reason and because the Department will...

Priority Questions: School Curriculum (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: The difficulty, not just with the educational agenda, but also with the skills agenda, is that each country appears to be pulling down the shutters. Consider Brexit and Trump. Everyone is looking after himself or herself and we are falling behind. The situation requires urgency and I encourage the Minister strongly. We should not interfere in the NCCA process, which must be non-political,...

Priority Questions: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: 27. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the review of the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, programme; if he will put in place the measures suggested by the ESRI review of the programme, namely to taper funding and enhance supports for urban DEIS schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2011/17]

Priority Questions: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: The question relates to the DEIS programme. The issue with the programme is that it has not really been expanded at all since it was established by the Fianna Fáil Government in 2006, with no new schools admitted to it since 2009. The Minister has been telling us there is a review of the programme under way. We had expected an announcement before Christmas on the programme's...

Priority Questions: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (18 Jan 2017)

Thomas Byrne: I welcome the Minister's commitment to putting a new or expanded scheme in place in September but all the while he is perpetuating socio-economic gaps in educational outcomes by maintaining the cap. In recent years, there have been schools that simply could not participate in the programme. Students are losing out as a consequence. It is a deliberate policy. How long does it take to put a...