Results 5,321-5,340 of 13,291 for speaker:Joe McHugh

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The process of Pre-Qualification of contractors for the project in question is under way. For this particular project, pre-qualification of reserved specialists for the mechanical and electrical works is also required. The Pre-qualification process culminates in the compilation of shortlists of suitable candidates for each respective discipline. A draft report was submitted to my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: For school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 geographic areas known as school planning areas which facilitates the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs. In identifying the requirement for additional school places, the Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places will arise. The GIS...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that funding has been approved to proceed to the planning stage for the provision of two mainstream classrooms at the school to which she refers. My Department has also recently approved the provision of an additional resource room at the school. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority so it is now a matter for the Board of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: Individual school boards of management are responsible for the establishment of special classes. It is open to any school to make application to the National Council for Special education (NCSE), to establish a class. The NCSE, an independent agency of my Department, is responsible for planning, coordinating and advising on education provision for children with special educational...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: My Department funds the provision of a range of equipment to post-primary schools offering music as a subject. The details of the equipment provided are available on my Department’s website at . Existing schools wishing to offer music as a new subject may apply for grant aid for this equipment to the Devolved Projects Section of my Department’s Planning and Building Unit in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The major school building project referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning – Stage 2b (Detailed Design) which includes the application for Statutory Approvals and the preparation of Tender Documents. All statutory approvals have been secured. A Brief Change requested by the school was approved by my Department in January 2019 and the Design Team...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The National Council for Special education (NCSE), an independent agency of my Department, is responsible for planning, coordinating and advising on education provision for children with special educational needs. This includes taking account of the flow of students from primary into post primary. The Council ensures that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all children who have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Multidenominational Schools (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The spreadsheet in the link contains the information requested by the Deputy, based on 2017-18 census returns from mainstream primary schools.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: As the Deputy will be aware, my Department is implementing new plans aimed at accelerating the provision of multi-denominational and non-denominational schools across the country, in line with the choices of parents, families and school communities and the Programme for Government commitment to reach 400 such schools by 2030. The previous model of patronage divestment yielded only a very...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The school building project for the school referred to by the Deputy will be delivered under the Department’s Design & Build programme. The project is currently at advanced architectural planning which includes the preparation of the planning application. The Design & Build Project Management Team is now proceeding to finalise the planning application for submission...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Medical Internships (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The Deputy may wish to note that in relation to work placements for medical students, the universities continue to provide formal education throughout the course of all years of medical courses with the majority of this formal education provided by clinical lecturing staff who are employed by the universities and who are deployed at clinical sites. In addition, the final years of most...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy was approved under the Additional Accommodation Scheme 2018 and is at an early stage in the delivery process. It is devolved for delivery to the school authority. The onus is on the school to progress the project to the next stage in that context. The funding details sought by the Deputy are contained in the following link.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: I propose to take Questions Nos. 300 and 301 together. I wish to advise the Deputy that DES Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and 0014/2017 for post primary schools set out details of a new model for allocating special education teachers to schools. DES Circulars 0007/2019 for primary schools and 0008/2019 for post primary schools also provide details of how the allocations are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Broadband Service Provision (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The policy of the Department is to offer the best quality connectivity to all schools in line with the technical solutions available in the market and financial constraints. Broadband capacity can vary due to geographical location and local infrastructure, and thus impact on the service that can be provided. Under the current primary schools programme the Department continually reviews...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The major building project for the schools referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning Stage 2b (Detailed Design), which includes the application for statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been secured. The Design Team is currently completing work on a revised stage 2(b) submission. My Department has also...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: I wish to confirm to the Deputy that officials in my Department continue to work towards the provision of a suitable permanent location for the school to which she refers. A number of potential site options were identified with the assistance of officials in the relevant local authority, however the acquisition of school sites in highly developed urban areas, such as that for the school in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: A major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s 6 year Construction Programme. The project when complete will provide for a 24 classroom school and a 2 classroom Special needs unit. The project will be delivered via the Design & Build Programme. The Design & Build programme uses a professional external Project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Broadband Service Provision (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: Through the Schools Broadband Access Programme the Department of Education and Skills provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary and post primary schools, and some 98% of schools are included in this scheme. All post-primary schools (715 in the 2017-2018 school year) and some 58 special schools are included in the High Speed Broadband programme with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: I propose to take Questions Nos. 307 and 361 together. My Department has every confidence that, through the implementation of the Framework for Junior Cycle the place of Geography will be retained and given a new impetus across the junior cycle curriculum. As part of the rollout of the new Framework for Junior Cycle, Geography was one of five new subject specifications that were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Legislative Programme (26 Mar 2019)

Joe McHugh: The recently published Retention of Records Bill represents a very important measure in that it provides for the retention of the records of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee. I must stress that under the legislation establishing these bodies the bulk of their records would, on the...