Results 6,461-6,480 of 11,861 for speaker:Brian Hayes

Written Answers — Irish Language: Irish Language (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: Question 730: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress in relation to the provision of a support and development initiative for the Irish language in Baile Bhúirne, in the Múscraí Gaeltacht in west Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28978/08]

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: Question 732: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the latest projected costs for new schools in developing areas originally announced on 1 February, 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28980/08]

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: Question 733: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of primary schools in County Westmeath using prefabricated accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28981/08]

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: Question 734: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the names of the primary schools in County Westmeath using prefabricated accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28982/08]

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: That would be a self-financing body.

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: The Minister has given away all his best lines.

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: I would not admit that, if I was the Deputy.

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: Hark at Archbishop Ryan.

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: I am delighted to contribute to this debate. I am also delighted that Archbishop Ryan has stayed in the pews to listen to us mere mortals, having delivered his sermon on the mount earlier. The Government needs to show more humility than it has to date in this debate. The very first thing we need is some straight talking, rather than sermonising or fascinating lectures from mushrooms and the...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: On Tuesday of this week there were no cutbacks planned for education. I note the Minister is leaving — we should all be on bended knee. Yesterday payroll cutbacks in the VEC and higher education sectors were announced. We did not hear this on Tuesday, as the spinning machine went out of control and we were led to believe that no axe would fall in the Department of Education and Science....

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: The reality is that cutbacks are here, in education, under this Minister, and worse——

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: We had better get ready for next year because we are going to see a loss of teachers in our primary and post-primary sectors, despite the bleatings and commitments of the Minister.

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: It is tomfoolery which allows small-minded Ministers to make announcements on school projects days before an election, in the full knowledge that no works will ever take place. The Irish people are sick of Fianna Fáil buying elections with money that they know they do not have. Why does the Minister for Education and Science continue to pretend that all of the 56 education promises set out...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: I did not interrupt the Minister, please. A total of 56 commitments in the area of education were made in the programme for Government. If this is a new era of honesty, as the Archbishop claimed earlier, why will the Minister not tell us which of the 56 priorities will be shelved? At the moment, the programme is a wish list and does not have any semblance of reality. The Minister is...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: If the Minister takes up the challenge in terms of delivering an honest assessment of what we can do, I will join him in that. One of the first things I want the Minister to do is——

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: When the Minister said he was introducing the payroll cost reduction across the VEC and higher education sectors, why did he not say in the same breath that he was prepared to amalgamate or abolish some of the agencies under the aegis of his Department? I have already outlined three agencies in the area of special needs which could be amalgamated into one, thus reducing costs and providing...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: ——a reduction in front-line staff, in services to our children and in the opportunities this State owes to them. After almost 11 years in office, the Government has wasted the opportunity that the Celtic tiger economy presented for education. Approximately one in four primary school classes now have 30 children or more, which means that 104,000 children are in oversized classes. No...

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: Will the sum be €252 million?

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: I suspect we will have a look at that all right. The Minister knows that the commitments in the national development plan are not worth the paper they are written on.

National Development Plan: Motion (Resumed) (10 Jul 2008)

Brian Hayes: Schools are now facing spiralling costs for fuel, water and waste collection and the Minister has said he will do something about that in the near future, which I welcome. However, now is the time that schools are finding it very difficult to survive. An average debt of €23,000 applies in many schools. The real scandal is that ten years after this Government assumed office, it takes on...