Results 7,541-7,560 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Site Acquisitions (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, the school to which he refers is included in my Department’s 6 year construction programme. Officials in my Department continue to liaise with officials in Fingal County Council in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the identification and acquisition of a suitable location for the school in question and have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that a building project for a new school has been approved for Trumera National School.  A letter of approval issued to the school authority on 11th June 2018 in this regard. The delivery of the project has been devolved to the school authority who will now arrange for the progression of the project through the design stages and on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, plans were recently announced for the establishment of 42 new schools over the next four years (2019-2022). This announcement follows nationwide demographic exercises carried out by the Department into the future need for primary and post-primary schools across the county and the 4-year horizon will enable increased lead-in times for planning and delivery of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Mental Health Strategies (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: The issue to which the Deputy refers arise from a recently published report commissioned by St Patrick’s Mental Health services.  The report includes an analysis of the findings from a survey of primary-school principals and interviews with twelve principals and nine counsellors, and makes certain recommendations. While the report has not been formally submitted to my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: Budget 2018 marks the second year of major reinvestment in the education sector, as we continue to implement the Action Plan for Education, which has the central aim to make the Irish education and training service the best in Europe within a decade. Improvements to the staffing schedule at primary level in Budget 2016 and Budget 2018 brings the teacher allocation ratio to the most...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Establishment (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy will be aware, I recently announced plans for the establishment of 42 new schools over the next four years (2019 to 2022), including an 8-classroom primary school to be established in Swords North (Mooretown) in 2019 and an 8-classroom primary school to be established in Swords South in 2019. For school planning purposes, Mooretown is located in the Swords school planning area....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will note that the performance of students in Ireland in mathematics is relatively high by international standards. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study found that only six out of 39 countries obtained significantly higher mean scores than Ireland in mathematics. The STEM Policy Statement and Implementation Plan, which I launched in November 2017, aims to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy may be aware, following on from the report of the Advisory Group to the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector, my Department undertook surveys of parental preferences in 43 areas of stable population in 2012 and 2013 to establish the level of parental demand for a wider choice in the patronage of primary schools within these areas.  Analysis of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Establishment (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, I recently announced the opening of 42 new schools over the next 4 years.  This announcement followed nationwide demographic exercises carried out by my Department into the current and future need for primary and post-primary school places across the country. The new post primary school to serve Ballincollig was part of that announcement. In line...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy will be aware, I announced plans for the establishment of 42 new schools over the next four years (2019 to 2022). This announcement follows nationwide demographic exercises carried out by my Department into the future need for primary and post-primary schools across the country and the 4-year horizon will enable increased lead-in times for planning and delivery of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department has no record of receiving a recent application, for works referred to, from the school in question. The latest interaction that my Department had with the school was in July 2017 and this related to the approval of an application from the school for an Emergency Works Grant in respect of essential works to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: Provision for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in primary schools is currently evaluated through two main models of inspection:  Curriculum Evaluations of Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) and Whole School Evaluations (WSE) where SPHE is one of the subjects of focus in the WSE. At post-primary level, provision for  RSE is evaluated during Subject Inspections of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: My Department's policy is to provide for the inclusive education of children with special educational needs, including Autism, in mainstream school settings, unless such a placement would not be in the best interests of the child concerned, or the children with whom they will be educated. The National Council for Special Education is responsible, through its network of Special Needs...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: I am pleased to confirm for the Deputy that planning for a new building for the school to which he refers is progressing. The school's design team has been authorised to conduct the pre-qualification process in order to draw up shortlists of contractors for the project.   In the meantime, work is ongoing on concluding the conveyancing for the site and I can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Establishment (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 92, 93 and 118 together. As the Deputies will be aware, in November 2016, I announced the patronage of a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school to be established in 2018 to serve the Dublin South City Centre area. This new school, which will be a co-educational, multi-denominational school under the patronage of Educate Together, will serve the Dublin _8...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: I have made clear during the passage of the Education (Admission to Schools) Bill 2016 that I wish to support Irish medium schools and to ensure that the Bill does not unintendedly limit the opportunities of students who have attained a level of proficiency in the Irish language from pursuing their education through the medium of Irish. Accordingly, I brought forward an amendment in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Contractors (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 96, 100 and 131 together. The Schools Bundle 5 Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme comprises five school buildings and one further education college across four sites in Bray, Wexford, Carlow and Kells. This programme has been affected by the liquidations referred to by the Deputy. It is recognised that these liquidations came as a particular blow...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: Once the company for the project to which the Deputy refers went into liduidation, steps were immediately taken by the client, which is the local Education and Training Board (ETB), and its Design Team to get the project back on track. These include: - The development of a critical time path to carry out all of the necessary design and re-tendering procedures in the shortest timeframe...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: In the last two years we have hired 5,000 additional new teachers. It is the case that many teachers who would have been available to carry out substitute work are now gaining permanent and long term contracts. I am aware of reports that some schools are experiencing difficulties in finding substitute teachers.  In the last school year I suspended the limits that teachers...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Psychological Assessments (4 Jul 2018)

Richard Bruton: I can inform the Deputy that my Department introduced a new model to support pupils with special educational needs in our schools following a pilot which demonstrated strong support from principals, teachers and parents.  The new model differs significantly from the old Resource Allocation Model, as schools are now front-loaded with additional resources based on the profile of each...