Results 7,801-7,820 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (25 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department is currently considering the position relating to the accommodation needs of the school to which he refers and my officials will be in further contact with the school authority as soon as this process has been completed.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Redeployment (25 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Each main redeployment panel is created for permanent and CID holding teachers in order to ensure that vacancies in permanent and fixed-term posts are offered in the first instance to these teachers. A secondary and discrete subsidiary of each main redeployment panel, the subsidiary main panel, is created for eligible teachers in fixed term, substitute and part-time posts who meet the...

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

Ruairi Quinn: There are three second level projects and five primary school projects which are currently being progressed within the architectural process and that are not included in the five year construction programme. These schools are: Coláiste Abbain, Wexford, (RN71600B); St Brendan's College, Bray, (RN61790D); Scoil Phobail, Clifden, (RN91412M); St Marys NS, Bagnalstown, Co Carlow,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Psychological Assessments (20 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I can inform the Deputy that all primary and post primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Where a NEPS psychologist is not assigned to a school, authorities therein may...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (20 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for new student grant applications from the 2012/13 academic year is a matter for the new centralised grant awarding authority, SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland). The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application form and supporting documentation, it would not be possible for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (20 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: It is not envisaged that a Minor Works Grant to primary schools will be issued for the school year 2012/2013. At the launch of the Government's Medium Term Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework last November, I said that the priority in the education sector is to focus on major school projects and smaller projects devolved to schools to meet demographic demands over the next five...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Computerisation Programme Expenditure (20 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department distributed more than €90m in ICT Infrastructure grants to schools in 2009 and 2010. These schemes prioritised the equipping of all classrooms with a digital projector, teaching computer and wireless keyboard and mouse. These ICT Infrastructure grant schemes are now fully disbursed. There are no plans to introduce a new ICT Infrastructure Grant Scheme in 2012 in view of...

Confidence in the Minister for Health: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Hear, hear.

Topical Issue Debate: Public Sector Allowances (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputies for their supplementary comments. I have to find €77 million in savings, as Deputy McConalogue will be aware since we discussed this matter earlier today in the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection, to meet the targets set for us in the memorandum of understanding to which this Republic was committed by the previous Administration. There are no...

Topical Issue Debate: Public Sector Allowances (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001 will be commenced later this year and will probably apply with full effect in the new year. A condition of that is that every teacher who gets paid from the public purse - some 76,000 and virtually all the teachers in the country - will have to be registered with the Teaching Council. To maintain their registration each year, they will have to do...

Topical Issue Debate: Public Sector Allowances (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Yesterday the Government approved a number of measures relating to public service allowances for new beneficiaries. This follows a public service review of allowances and premium payments conducted by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The main measure impacting teachers is the withdrawal of qualification allowances for new entrant teachers. The Government has decided that...

Topical Issue Debate: School Transport Provision (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter which is of concern to a number of Deputies. School transport is a very significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on the Department's behalf and covers more than 82 million kilometres annually. Currently, 110,000 children, including more than 8,000 children with special needs, are transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis...

Topical Issue Debate: School Transport Provision (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy again for bringing some additional information to the table in regard to this matter. I had a meeting this morning with the Deputy's party colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, and two senior civil servants dealing with this issue. We have agreed to wait until after the mid-term break, which is in a couple of weeks time, to review and get as much information in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am more constrained at second level because of the subject impact. With primary school teachers, the impact is the same in real terms because they teach the whole spectrum of the age classes and all of the subjects. Secondary school teachers, by definition, may have a speciality in two subjects. We do not know adequately what the impact would be in some schools if we were to disimprove...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am conscious of the time but I will come back and discuss this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In fairness, we are looking for €77 million. If we have an impact analysis with regard to pushing up the student fee by another €250, we will have some idea of what the impact will be and we can assimilate it to a certain extent. With other changes, we have to drill into the consequences of the saving to see whether there is a disproportionate negative impact and whether it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I have dealt with the matter before. We recommend very clearly to the schools that they should not take on retired teachers for substitute purposes. I said very clearly at the INTO conference in Donegal that the person who hires the retired teacher to come in to substitute is the principal of the school. All the principals in the primary school system are in fact members of the INTO so, if...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank Senator Moloney for raising the matter. We have moved on this with the director general of the State Examinations Commission but, quite frankly, I moved too late in the day and it had made its their arrangements. I had not realised how well prepared it was in regard to the examinations system. We will be doing it earlier this year because, first and foremost, I wanted to ensure we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Yes, I will be getting legal advice in this regard. I am not even sure what the practice is as it is devolved to the City of Dublin VEC through the SUSI operation. Since it has been brought to our attention, we will inquire about that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Budget 2013: Discussion with Minister for Education and Skills (19 Sep 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I cannot respond to the Senator at this stage but we will be looking at that in some detail. The reform of the process for third level education is at a fairly advanced stage at this point. With regard to productivity in the third level sector, quite frankly, we do not know enough about the reality on the ground from the point of view of the Higher Education Authority or the Department of...