Results 5,521-5,540 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Other Questions: School Guidelines on Mental Health (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I do not agree with the conclusion reached by the Deputy. Given the state of where we are, and what we now know with regard to the whole school environment and the health required for it, the approach must be to make it everybody's concern in the first instance. The Deputy spoke about the guidelines for mental health promotion, and these suggest three states of intervention, namely, a whole...

Other Questions: School Guidelines on Mental Health (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is very big.

Other Questions: School Guidelines on Mental Health (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I recognise the very large size of Gorey Community School and a new VEC school is planned to be built there. It has still to come on-stream as the Deputy knows. There are special pressures in Gorey and I recognise this.

Other Questions: School Staffing (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The guidelines on mental health promotion and suicide prevention are based on schools taking a co-ordinated whole school approach to preventing and, where necessary, tackling these issues. This involves building and integrating school self-evaluation processes, implementing the SPHE curriculum, developing the whole school guidance plan, adopting the NEPS continuum of support, and building...

Other Questions: School Staffing (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: First and foremost I do value guidance counsellors. They have not been abolished. Against the background of the necessity to reduce expenditure across all heads of Departments I had a very stark option to meet the targets. One was to disimprove the pupil-teacher ratio across the entire post-primary sector, which would have had knock-on effects in terms of subject choice, and the other was...

Other Questions: School Staffing (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I commend the Deputy's ability to defy reality in his pre-budget submissions. The trail of economic management from Fianna Fáil has left us with a mess we are still trying to deal with in real terms.

Other Questions: Schools Guidance Counsellors (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: On the Deputy's observation on the lack of figures at this point in the academic year, this is not confined to higher level education. It is also a problem at primary and second level. Our system is partially computerised and partially manual. We are dependent on the individual institutions returning data to us. In my view, this has not been satisfactory. I propose to take another look...

Other Questions: Schools Guidance Counsellors (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: There are five institutions involved. The figure for last year is 54; for the previous year is 83 and for the year prior to that is 100. Five years ago the figure was 58. As such, there was a spike two years ago, which dropped off long before any changes were made to the budget.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy's freedom of information request was such that he did not necessarily get the entire picture. The implementation group comprises officials from the Department, the chief executive officer of the CDVEC and senior SUSI personnel, and I get regular reports after they meet. I would never attempt to chair that meeting or project-manage that group myself. However, 13 group meetings...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In addition to the meeting to which the reply to the question refers, I have had numerous telephone conversations with the chief executive officer, Ms Jacinta Stewart, arising from my receipt of reports and my concern over the lack of progress, as I perceived it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In May 2011 my Department issued circular 31/2011 which sets out a cascading set of measures for appointment of teachers with effect from September 2011. These measures are stringent and require schools to prioritise unemployed teachers over those in receipt of a pension where possible. It should be remembered that the schools themselves employ teachers. Some 55,666 teachers were employed...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I do not have a breakdown of those teachers. The reply to a later question gives a breakdown of the distribution of the teachers and I can give it to the Deputy then. We are continuing to press the matter with the schools' boards of management and the unions. There are texting services for getting at short notice relief teachers where there are vacancies. However, in some cases the school...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Departmental Staff (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: To facilitate the Deputy I will repeat part of the earlier reply. Feedback from schools indicates that the reasons for recruitment of retired teachers include the number and pattern of hours available at school level; the paucity of appropriately qualified and registered teachers who are not retired in certain skill areas, such as special needs; and the unavailability, at short notice, of...

Other Questions: Schools Guidance Counsellors (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department recognises a number of postgraduate qualifications offered by universities as acceptable for school guidance work. The Higher Education Authority does not allocate funding for specific courses. It is a matter for each university to determine which courses are run and the number of places they wish to offer. As such decisions are usually determined by reference to overall...

Other Questions: Schools Guidance Counsellors (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: So am I.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: In accordance with normal protocol, it is the function of officials to conduct business with the chief executive officer of the City of Dublin VEC on the operation of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, and to report to me on developments as appropriate. While I had a meeting with the CEO, my views are communicated to the chief executive officer by my officials through this process. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants Eligibility Criteria (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: The capital assets test implementation group report will go to Cabinet in the coming weeks. Due to timetabling issues I cannot be more specific about a date at this time. The Deputy will understand that I am not in a position to provide details of the contents of the report until I have completed my own consideration of those details and discussed them with my Cabinet colleagues. I can...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants Eligibility Criteria (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: I am not in a position to answer the Deputy's supplementary in the way he would like. It is part of the convention of collective Cabinet responsibility that I must bring proposals to that group in the first instance for their consideration. It would be improper of me to speculate in advance of Cabinet colleagues having a chance to consider the memorandum. This is an important issue and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants Eligibility Criteria (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: As I said more recently to Deputy Dara Calleary on "The Week in Politics", manipulation of accounts was a feature of the past. It is less possible to do now, not because people have changed their ways but because the Revenue authorities and the taxation code are more stringent and transparent.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Higher Education Grants Eligibility Criteria (7 Mar 2013)

Ruairi Quinn: It is less likely they can be manipulated now than was the case in the past, but it was a bone of contention for many decades in all parts of the country. The system of assessment for student grants must be reformed and I stand by that.