Results 5,321-5,340 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: That point will be clarified in the regulations, but the intent is that the panel cannot be bypassed. I will clarify the issue and revert to the Senator on Report Stage.

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to bring to the House's attention two issues, the first of which I missed because we were moving so quickly. We will introduce amendments to section 51 relating to accounts and accountability. They will ensure that, in the transition from vocation education committees, VECs, to education and training boards, ETBs, there will be no gap in the obligation to file accounts and to respond...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: From memory, there are five more CEOs than there are formally established ETBs, of which there are 16. There is a surplus. The panel of existing CEOs has been frozen. Different jobs have been contracted for current CEOs who, as they did not qualify under the process of selection, will no longer be super CEOs in the new configuration. It was a combination of seniority and choice. This...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I have noted the Senator's comments. I am reluctant to get into that space, as it is close to IR-type operations and we have not yet resolved the situation for all of the confirmed CEOs who have not been accommodated. I am conscious that I am not just speaking to the House, but to people who are following this debate with a certain degree of scrutiny. With my full blessing, my Department's...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: And to ensure consistency.

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: We will note the Senators' comments and come back to them on Report Stage in respect of this matter.

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Until they try it.

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I was not present for the debate on Second State, so I wish to elaborate on a couple of matters now. I am concerned to have legislation which will be fit for purpose in 20 or 30 years' time. The reality is that we have a public private partnership in education. The public side is the State, which sets the curriculum, pays salaries, regulates the examination process, etc. At primary level...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Sometimes one can lead by example and sometimes one can make something a prerequisite. To take the scenario the Senator mentioned, if the female member of whatever caucus simply refused for a variety of reasons, there would be other females available from, perhaps, a different caucus who would get it. Practice varies in different local authorities. In some cases, the practice is winner...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is.

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: This is a typographical correction. It changes the word "paragraph" to "paragraphs".

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Under the current law the proportion of male and female local authority representatives on a VEC must mirror the proportion of the total number of male and female members of those county, city and town districts when added together. The existing system has given rise to practical difficulties, particularly where a number of bodies come together to elect people to one board. Difficulties at...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I think I have said all I want to say on this issue. I am striving here for genuinely broad representation, which was not the case with the VECs in the past, when often people were given slots because they were former councillors, they knew somebody, or were closely politically aligned with the dominant faction at the time. This is a structured advance beyond that point. As Senator Bacik...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am trying to keep the new boards compact. The number of representatives on the boards has increased to 21 since the Bill was drafted and it will increase to 22 in one case because it takes in County Leitrim. While this is not necessarily a problem, we should not move beyond the current size. My thinking on the Bill during the debates in the other House was that a parent will, by...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Responding specifically to Senator Wilson about the current elections for parents, while I support the principle behind his contribution, the reality of practice and experience on the ground is the opposite. Current procedures to identify and elect parents are cumbersome and expensive, involving communication with approximately 150,000 people. The experience to date has been that turnout is...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am very anxious to accommodate everybody in this Chamber, as we did in the other Chamber. In a way, this is a much better Chamber in which to express what I am about to say now because it has direct experience of it. There are panels for election to this Chamber to which I was once elected. To follow up on what the Leas-Chathaoirleach has explained, there is only one unique three county...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am sure the Senator will find a way in.

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am very open to the principle behind the amendment. I have no difficulty with it but how to get something that will practically work. I want to talk about a person who is a member of a local authority who subsequently becomes a member of the new ETB but which is currently a VEC. Under the proposed legislation if a member of a local authority subsequently loses his or her seat for...

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I would hope that come September when the school academic year resumes, everything would be commissioned and operational. In the event that some things may be problematic in the operation of a school we would wait until the end of June in order that it would not impact on the school day.

Seanad: Education and Training Boards Bill 2012: Committee Stage (26 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Section 22 provides that an education and training board may, with the Minister's consent, enter into an arrangement with an education or training provider for the joint performance of any of the board's functions. This will be subject to terms and conditions agreed between the board and the provider. The Minister of the day is given a direction to direct an education and training board to...