Results 5,461-5,480 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The total cost to my Department of providing a telephone in my home from when I took up office as Minister for Education and Skills in 2011 to date is €440.98. My Department does not pay home telephone costs in respect of Minister of State Ciarán Cannon. It is worth noting that Ministers, unlike all other Oireachtas Members, are not able to claim for telephone calls relating...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Shared full-time posts and travel between schools is a long standing feature of the primary system. There were a plethora of long-standing clustering arrangements in place which were not the most practical, efficient or cost effective way to allocate resources. The new arrangements introduced in the current school year are designed to address the limitations of the previous arrangements....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staffing (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: There is detailed historical information contained in the Statistics Section of my Department's website relating to the number of teaching posts in schools. The most recent published information relates to the 2011/2012 school year. The NCSE has notified all schools of their allocation of resource hours for low incidence special needs for the 2012/13 school year and has published this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Minister Quinn's Constituency Office is operated from within the Department of Education and Skills. Apart from telephone handsets, which were replaced in April 2012 as part of a standard upgrading of all telephones within my Department, no additional or replacement ICT equipment has been assigned to this office since March 2011. Mobile phone costs for this office since March 2011 amount to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The total cost to my Department for the provision on non-ICT related office equipment in constituency offices is €3,846.59 in respect of a photocopier purchased for Minister of State Cannon's constituency office in Galway in July 2011. Other incidental office costs, such as heating and lighting, are met as part of my Department's overall energy costs.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: There are 8 mobile phones used by myself, Minister Ciarán Cannon and politically appointed staff. The total cost of these phones since March 2011 is €9,113.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The following tabular statement contains the information sought by the Deputy. My Department does not hold details of the yearly costs of ministerial cars in 2010, as the provision of ministerial cars and garda drivers at that time was administered by the former Department of Justice. However, I understand the cost of the previous Ministerial Transport arrangements under the last Fianna Fail...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Two business credit cards are held and operated by staff in my Department. One card is held in the name of and operated by the Private Secretary in the Minister's Office and the second is held in the name of and operated by the Private Secretary in the Minister of State's Office. These cards allow for expenditure to support the business needs of the Department, in extremely time limited...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Issues (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The State Examinations Commission operates a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations in the Certificate examinations. Applications for such accommodations are submitted by schools on behalf of their students. Full details of the scheme is available for downloading...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Applications (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland, that on 8th March 2013, a request for further documentation was issued to the student referred to by the Deputy. When the requested documentation is returned the student will be notified directly of the outcome.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As part of the Government's budgetary considerations and the Comprehensive Expenditure Review carried out in 2011, a decision was made to abolish the payments by this Department towards the cost of attendance at Gaeltacht courses by students commencing their programme of primary initial teacher education. The decision came into effect for the 2012/13 academic year. As the Deputy will be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand from Student Universal Support Ireland that as of 10 March 2013, 6,041 appeals were received by SUSI and that, of these 3,486 were overturned, 2,049 decisions were upheld and 506 are awaiting a decision from the appeals officer. The Department has asked SUSI for a report on the overturn rate.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Application Numbers (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand from Student Universal Support Ireland that it is up to date with processing all complete applications. In this regard, as at close of business on 10th March 2013, 57,957 applications have been processed to completion. As part of the close out strategy for the 2012/13 academic year, SUSI is currently contacting applicants who have not completed their application by submitting...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Eligibility for a student grant or for an increased level of grant may be assessed or re-assessed,as the case may be, during an academic year where a permanent change of circumstances arises. Applicants should contact their grant awarding authority for advice where such circumstances occur.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The school referred to by the Deputy has been approved devolved funding under my Department's Additional Accommodation Scheme to build one mainstream classroom.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Appeals (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Student Grant Appeals Board deals with appeals arising from student grant decisions made by 66 grant awarding authorities and not just SUSI. Appeals are received by the Student Grants Appeal Board on an on-going basis throughout an academic year. Since its establishment, Appeal Board sittings have taken place at intervals varying from 2 to 4 weeks. It is currently sitting at weekly...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Delays (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: Officials in my Department have confirmed with Student Universal Support Ireland, that on 5th March 2013, a request for further documentation was issued to the student referred to by the Deputy. When the requested documentation is returned the student will be notified directly of the outcome.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil Transfers (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department's policy in relation to pupils repeating the same grade in primary school is set out in Primary Circular 32/03. However, the circular provides that pupils who have completed sixth class must not transfer to another primary school to repeat sixth class and that in the event that a school were to enrol pupils from another school to repeat sixth class the pupils shall not be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gratuity Grant Applications (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a gratuity under the Superannuation Act, 1887, was approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of the retired employee of the Limerick Model School. Payment in respect of the gratuity issued to the former employee in February 2013.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (12 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In line with procedures agreed under the Public Service (Croke Park) Agreement 2010 - 2014 this person was placed on the Public Appointments Service re-deployment resource panel. A suitable vacancy was identified in Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) and the person was redeployed to LIT in line with the agreed procedures. Following the redeployment decision, the individual referred...