Results 701-720 of 19,404 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding. This funding, which increased by 11% (to €287 million) in year 2, increased by another 15% in year 3 (to €331 million). This...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: My Department employs a range of approaches to identify and address shortages of early learning and childcare places, bearing in mind the wide range of types of early learning and childcare provision offered by services and required by families. Last year, a Supply Management Unit within the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Division was established, and the Programme for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding. This funding, which increased by 11% (to €287 million) in year 2, has increased again by another 15% in year 3 (to €331 million). ...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Over 92% or more than 4,400, providers have signed up for Core Funding in year 3. There are a total of 12 services whose latest application status is "withdrawn" in the previous 12 months of the scheme. The below table shows the services who have withdrawn from Core funding in the previous 12 month by location and withdrawal month. County Number of Services ...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: As per the Agreement for the provision of Core Funding in Programme Year 3 (2024/2025), in most instances where a parent/guardian provided a deposit or a registration fee to a Partner Service after 1 September 2024, the Partner Service must return this to the parent/guardian once the child’s registration is approved on the Hive or within four weeks of the child taking up the place,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: I understand the service in question has had initial engagement with their local CCC. In addition to the Core Funding grant for early learning and childcare providers towards operating costs, which the service avails of, Case Management Supports are available from my Department for any service experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability. This support can take...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Immigration Support Services (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Work is underway to develop a new national strategy for migrant integration, which will address ongoing and emerging needs in supporting integration in Ireland. To inform this work, my Department conducted public and targeted consultations to gain insights into the migrant experience in Ireland and better understand the challenges, needs and opportunities for supporting integration in the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Staff (5 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Staff may apply for a career break in accordance with the Career Break Scheme in the Civil Service. Staff who identify a need to develop their Irish skills as part of their role, may be supported under the Department's learning and development budget.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: Work is currently underway in my Department to develop a new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht. One of the key objectives of this policy, among other things, is examining how the supply of teachers and other staff with a high standard of Irish can be increased to meet demand in Irish-medium education settings. In order to inform the development of the policy, a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: My Department is providing a payroll service for school secretaries with effect from 1 September 2023. The provision of a payroll service is part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and includes revised terms and conditions for secretaries. The Agreement however,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: The information requested by the Deputy in relation to my Department is as follows: At the end of December 2023, 28 staff were on career break. The details of which are provided in the table below. Grade Number on Career Break 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 5 Year+ Clerical Officer 7 2 ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: As requested by the Deputy, the details of vacancies held with the Public Appointments Service by month and grade during 2023 and 2024 are outlined in the attached tabular statement. In addition, the department also used the civil service mobility scheme and internal/ open competitions to fill internal vacancies during this period. My Department does not hold the vacancy information for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: I wish to assure the Deputy that within my Department no civil servant had their career break extended beyond five years where there was a suitable vacancy within my Department. Where staff are on a career break for more than 5 years, my Department engages with them to determine if they are returning or resigning.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (22 Jan 2025)

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 172,500 children, are transported daily in approximately 7,900 vehicles across 10,300 routes to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres. this figure includes over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the department's pipeline of school buildings for a project to provide 3 General Classrooms, 1 Graphics room, 2 Science labs with 1 Prep area, 1 Home Economics room, and a 2 Special Educational Needs (SEN) base. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority. In 2021 the school agreed a brief to include the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (22 Jan 2025)

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 172,500 children, are transported daily in approximately 7,900 vehicles across 10,300 routes daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres. This figure includes...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: My Department provided for a one point improvement in the staffing schedule for DEIS Urban Band 1 schools for the 2021/22 school year, a further 1 point improvement for 2022/23 and Budget 2023 brought in a further 1 point reduction from September 2023. This means that since September 2023 the staffing schedule for DEIS Urban Band 1 vertical schools is 19:1, DEIS Urban Band 1 junior schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: The Project referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the department’s pipeline of school buildings to provide the refurbishment and extension to an existing building. The Tender Report for the project was recently received by my department and is being reviewed by the departments professional and technical team from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter the department’s pipeline for a project under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project will provide a five classroom special education needs (SEN) base. The project was devolved for delivery to the school authority. I can confirm that a Stage 1 revised report had been received by my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (22 Jan 2025)

Norma Foley: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter the department’s pipeline for a project under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project will provide four mainstream classrooms, eight SET rooms and a four classroom Special Education Needs (SEN) base. The project was devolved for delivery to the school authority. Following the Stage 1...