Results 6,101-6,120 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The Department is of the view that sufficient additional capacity is available to serve the Lucan and Adamstown area and is satisfied that the site at the school to which the Deputy refers is sufficient to cater for its long term needs.

Written Answers — Dormant Accounts Fund: Dormant Accounts Fund (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: In light of the very large number of project proposals received and the level of oversubscription the Dormant Accounts Fund Inter-departmental Committee for Educational Disadvantage recommended that arrangements should be made to transfer these proposals to the Department's Planning and Building Unit for consideration in the context of the Department's overall Schools Building and...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: Further to my previous response I wish to advise that, for the special rate of maintenance grant, an analogous payment is considered to be a social welfare payment paid by another country which can be equated to one of the listed eligible social welfare payments in the grant schemes. As the person referred to by the Deputy has not provided information in respect of an analogous payment the...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: An application for a home tuition grant for the pupil referred to by the Deputy was received recently in my Department. My officials requested additional information in support of the application. As soon as this information is received, the application will be considered further.

Written Answers — State Examinations: State Examinations (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations, including making arrangements for the marking of work presented for examinations and issuing the results of examinations. A range of accommodations are provided to enable students with disabilities to access the Certificate examinations. For example enlarged print,...

Written Answers — School Numbers: School Numbers (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: There are currently 3,286 primary schools (3160 ordinary schools and 126 special schools) and 730 post primary schools (389 secondary schools, 250 vocational schools and 91 Community & Comprehensive schools).

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: My Department does not maintain a database of primary and post-primary schools with records of the age of school buildings; accordingly the information requested by the Deputy is not readily available.

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: Green-Schools is an international environmental education programme, designed to promote and acknowledge whole-school action to care for the environment. It is both a programme and an award scheme. Green-Schools in Ireland is operated and co-ordinated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce. The programme complements the formal curricula in Social, Environmental and Scientific...

Written Answers — Bullying in Schools: Bullying in Schools (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I can assure the Deputy that supports are in place to enable schools both to prevent bullying and to deal with cases that may arise. There is no requirement for schools to report incidents of bullying to my Department, nor do I believe that this should be the case. Responsibility for tackling bullying falls to the level of the individual school as it is at local level that an effective...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a Design Team has now been appointed and the process of architectural planning has commenced.

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: An application for capital funding towards the provision of a new school building has been received from the school authority referred to by the Deputy. The long term projected staffing assessment and the further progression of the proposed building project will be considered on an ongoing basis in the context of my Department's multi annual School Building and Modernisation programme. In...

Written Answers — In-service Training: In-service Training (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The Teacher Education Section of my Department has not received a request from the Health Service Executive to provide inservice training to support Together We Play, Learn and Understand, their resource pack on integration.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: As part of the Programme for Government, a Developing Areas Unit was set up recently in my Department to focus on the school accommodation needs of rapidly developing areas, including Naas. The main emphasis in 2008 is on providing sufficient school places in these developing areas, as well as delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary school accommodation...

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The Athlone element of the decentralisation of my Department will be completed in the summer of this year. The completion of this element of the programme will result in the relocation of 92 posts to Athlone. The Mullingar element of the decentralisation of my Department will take place when new permanent accommodation is ready for occupation. This is likely to be sometime in 2010 and will...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I thank Senator Cannon for raising the issue of the need for a second level school in Kinvara which has been ongoing for the past year. In light of increases in population in the south Galway area and the decision of the Sisters of Mercy to close Seamount College, Kinvara, on a phased basis, the Department determined that a new post-primary school would be required in the south Galway area....

Seanad: School Accommodation (24 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Seanadóir O'Reilly and Senator Wilson for raising this issue. I am very conscious of the story in regard to St. Mary's national school in Virginia because of the enormous expansion in the numbers in the school and the development of the area around Virginia. It is for that reason we indicated last year that we would appoint a design team. The...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (23 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: I can confirm to the Deputy that an application has been received from the college to which he refers for large scale capital funding. The application is being assessed in the Department's Modernisation and Policy Unit. The commencement and progression of all large scale building projects from initial design stage through to construction phase, including this project, will be considered on...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (23 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The Developing Areas Unit of the Department is in receipt of an application for major capital works from the school to which the Deputy refers. This application was assessed and assigned a Band 3 rating according to the published prioritisation criteria. Earlier this year, the Department asked the school to complete an updated application for major capital works to reflect expanding...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (23 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: The National Council for Special Education is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and special needs assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special needs. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their...

Written Answers — Public Private Partnerships: Public Private Partnerships (23 Apr 2008)

Mary Hanafin: A Public Private Partnership is an arrangement between the public and private sectors to provide public services or infrastructure. It is recognised that both the public sector and the private sector have experience and skills in dealing with particular situations and PPP aims to tap into each of these sources and to allocate project risks to the party best able to manage them. The...