Results 6,861-6,880 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Other Questions: Departmental Reports (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As I said, I will outline my approach to the documents that have now entered the public domain to the main stakeholders at a meeting on Thursday. The Higher Education Authority will have until the beginning of March 2013 to finalise its response to the submissions it has received and the documentation that has already come in. In addition, I will confirm and elaborate on the national policy...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: When the system is completed and students take between eight and ten subjects, the examinations on those ultimately will be marked by the teachers in question. Those examinations will account for 60% of the marks for a particular subject and the balance of 40% will be made up from project work the students do in second and third years. The schools and the subject teachers will be sent...

Other Questions: Departmental Reports (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The reality of the economic situation and the public expenditure corrections which must be made in the coming years present challenges across all areas of public expenditure. It must be acknowledged that the sector has accommodated significant increases in student numbers at a time when both funding and staff numbers have reduced. As the Deputy will be aware, the Higher Education...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I published the framework for the junior cycle on 4 October. All schools are to develop their junior cycle programme mindful of the principles, key skills and the 24 statements of learning. Subjects, short courses and, where relevant, priority learning units will be developed according to agreed specifications. The framework includes a number of measures to support and quality assure...

Other Questions: School Curriculum (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As Deputies are aware, on Thursday afternoon the House will have an opportunity to debate the junior certificate cycle reform in some substance over two hours. There is also a question further down the Order Paper that addresses some of the questions that have been put in supplementary form by Deputy McConalogue. Let us step back a little in terms of history. The National Council for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: There are two issues here. The first is that we must recognise that this measure was introduced in order to comply with the necessity to reduce expenditure in the overall education budget. I had two choices: I could have disimproved the pupil-teacher ratio in second level schools to achieve the target or I could have referred back to the principals, who have a major leadership role in our...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will deal with the last part of the Deputy's question first. The working party that was established earlier this year hopes to complete its draft report by the end of the month. It will then be circulated to the interested parties for comment and therefore we will have it very early in the new year. That is the timetable to which we are working. It is an interdepartmental working group...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will certainly publish it. The report will be sent to the various interested parties for comment and any changes, among other things. It will then be finalised and we will publish it as soon as possible after that. On the other matters the Deputy raised, let me outline what is available for school communities from the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. The support of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I have had a number of meetings, one of which was a recent informal meeting at the exhibition in the RDS on third level options. I do not accept the assertions in the quotations the Deputy read from the letter to which he referred. Some smaller schools at post-primary level have had difficulties in regard to the matter but the larger schools still have the service of full guidance teachers...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Bullying in Schools (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 106 and 107 together. Guidance is a whole-school activity and not just a matter for school guidance counsellors alone. Under existing arrangements each school develops a whole-school guidance plan as a means of supporting the needs of its students. I acknowledge that bringing guidance provision within quota is challenging for schools but this must be seen...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In some cases, even when the third party is a public representative who has been asked by the citizen in question to make an inquiry, the interpretation by the Data Protection Commissioner, who gives instructions to the relevant bodies, can frequently be that without express permission conveyed by the constituent a service agency cannot share information with a third party. It is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will inquire about the details of that. There may be a problem in providing bank details in advance. I will, however, make the inquiry and get back to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In response to Deputy McConalogue's question, Abtran has 79 staff and is taking on 50 extra staff. Abtran assures me it is satisfied that will be sufficient to process the applications. I will be constantly monitoring the volume of processing taking place. Should more staff be necessary, I will ensure Abtran takes on extra staff to do the task for which it has been contracted. The story...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy asked a number of questions and I will try to reply to them seriatim. I have been in contact with SUSI. I have not had physical meetings but the Department's officials have had such meetings. I have spoken to the chief executive of the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee, CDVEC. Ten minutes ago I checked with the principal officer in the Department by telephone to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy might not have heard me or I might not have articulated it well enough, but while a cost benefit analysis was not specifically carried out prior to the award of the contract, it was considered that outsourcing was an appropriate solution for the document management process. That is the activity that is taking place. The reason was the peak nature of this once-in-a-year event for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Delays (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 108 together. The situation in relation to the 66,000 applications to Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, is as follows. Some 22,000 are complete, with some 12,000 either awarded or provisionally awarded and some 10,000 refused. Once awarded, payment is dependent on the verification of attendance by the institution and the submission of bank...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Guidance Counsellors (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 113 and 119 together. The day to day management of how teaching resources are used in schools is done at local school level. It is established policy that guidance is a whole school activity and under existing arrangements each school develops a school guidance plan as a means of supporting the needs of its students. I am confident schools will act in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The "Report on Retention Rates of Pupils in Second Level Schools" indicates that the number of students staying in school to complete their second level education is now at its highest rate ever. The percentage of students who sit the Leaving Cert overall has risen by almost 9% to 90.2% in 11 years. It is particularly encouraging to see the retention rate in DEIS schools increase...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Nov 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I understand that dialogue has commenced between officials of the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) and the European Investment Bank in relation to the potential funding of further educational PPP projects as part of the Government approved Economic Stimulus Package. The Economic Stimulus Package announced last July includes two further bundles of school projects that would be...