Results 5,661-5,680 of 19,559 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: An official from my Department's Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) Section has been in contact with the principal of the school in question in respect of this issue and has advised that following a review of the EWS application in question, the decision has been taken that the application does not qualify under the EWS criteria as outlined below. However given the nature of the incident...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: It was agreed with Lucan ETNS that the issue of the community contribution could be addressed after the New School Lease (NSL) between the Minister and the Patron for the school property was implemented. The CSSO is currently liaising with the Patron’s solicitor with respect to the NSL and a response from the Patron's solicitor on same is expected.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: As outlined in my Department's Governance Manual for Board of Management of Primary Schools, Boards of Management are obliged to take out public liability insurance, contents insurance and employers’ liability insurance. As this school is on Minister owned land it is not obliged to take out buildings insurance. However the school is required to take out public liability, contents and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The Professional Master of Education (PME) is a two-year, full-time Level 9 postgraduate professional teacher education programme designed to qualify graduates as primary & post-primary teachers. Changes to the duration and content of initial teacher education programmes were made in response to recommendations in the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department’s approach is to support school authorities deal with pyrite through an appropriate remediation programme based on advices provided by Consultant Engineers which are assessed and reviewed by my Department’s Professional and Technical Team. The standard approach is to factor pyrite remediation in to a building project that is already planned or underway for a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: Under the terms of the contract, the Contractor has a period of 12 months after the date of substantial completion to rectify any snags or defects that are identified i.e. Defects Liability Period (DLP). If at the end of the 12 month period all snags or defects are not rectified, the Contract offers other remedies to have matters resolved. In relation to a project where the client is the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. This school project is part of the bundle known as ‘Project Nore’. The brief for this project is to provide a new 14 classroom special school. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the tender process for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to advise the Deputy, that the school referred to was approved funding under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme for a 2 classroom SEN base. The project is devolved for delivery to the school authority. The review from the Department Professional and Technical team of the stage report is nearing completion and the recommendations will be shared...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: My Department issued a reply to the parent of the child referred to by Deputy on 1 June 2023. Additionally, 2 further replies in relation to this matter were issued to a public representative who communicated with my Department on behalf of the parent. These replies issued on 16 June and 29 June 2023. My Department's policy in regards to the retention of pupils in primary schools is set out...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and utilises a Geographical Information System to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. Additionally, Project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: Modular accommodation was installed in Summer 2021 at the site of the school referred to by the Deputy to accommodate interim accommodation for another post-primary school which has since relocated to its permanent site. The modular accommodation referred to by the Deputy is now under the management of DDLETB, patron of the school referred to by the Deputy. DDLETB have confirmed that the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers, has been devolved for delivery to Tipperary Education and Training Board (TETB). A design team to deliver this project has been appointed by the ETB and this team is in the process of preparing the Stage 1 Report (preliminary design). The design team will ensure that the project progresses through the design stages, obtains the necessary statutory...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: Sectoral bargaining is an element of the Building Momentum pay agreement which provided for the establishment of a Sectoral Bargaining Fund (SBF) amounting to 1% of basic pay. Relevant trade unions could use some or all of the SBF to resolve outstanding issues, with a payment date of 1 February 2022 or alternatively use their portion of the fund for a further general pay increase. All costs...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: As Minister for Education, I believe it is crucially important that children and young people are actively supported to access education in its fullest forms. This Government recognises that the cost of preparing children for school each September can be a cause of financial difficulty and worry for many Irish families. As part of Budget 2023, I announced a major investment of over €50...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/23 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (17 Oct 2023)

Norma Foley: It is my vision that Irish education continues to innovate, improve, and inspire. To this end, last spring I announced an ambitious programme of work for a reimagined Senior Cycle of education where the student is at the centre of their Senior Cycle experience. In recent weeks, I announced a significant acceleration of the Senior Cycle redevelopment programme enabling over 120,000 additional...