Results 8,181-8,200 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: Yes.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: No.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: For clarity, the draft report was shared with the NPCPP. It is aware of the draft report and has had of it. However, at no point was the organisation prepared to engage with the governance review. There must be a willingness on the part of any organisation that is in receipt of State funding to engage with a governance review.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: No, I will receive the completed report in due course. It will be on the basis of information that is in the public domain as there was a refusal to engage with the process by the NPCPP.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: Non-co-operation and engagement.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, there is a review of the entire school transport system. Last year, there was a 25% increase in the number of students availing of the system, including a 26% increase in terms of special education. The root-and-branch review includes everything from eligibility to cost. The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform is part of...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: The Deputy is a great supporter of DEIS and what it can mean for a school. She is correct, in that this past year has, at a cost of €32 million, seen the single largest expansion of DEIS in recent years. I am conscious that not all children at risk of educational disadvantage attend DEIS schools. The body of work we are engaged in is considering what steps we can take in respect of...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I would also like to take this opportunity to reference the formidable Niamh Bhreathnach and I extend my sincere sympathy to her family. She was a trailblazer in education, as the Deputy has referenced. She was a phenomenal woman with extraordinary vision for education, particularly, as the Deputy has referenced, in the area of educational disadvantage. That included everything from the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: We are completing the model that will be used. That work is ongoing, it will be completed in the coming weeks and then direct contact will be made with the schools. I would like to see the widest experience of schools in terms of the size of schools, the type of schools and all of that being part of the pilot. There will be great learnings from this and I would hope that, going forward, we...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I will briefly say something about the reconfiguration. I know I am running out of time but I want to say that it is a pilot, it has worked well in some areas and it has been more demanding and challenging in other areas, some of which the Deputy has referenced. That is notwithstanding that we have seen successes come out of it as well, and it was my pleasure to be in Nenagh recently, for...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. It has been broadly agreed that it is right and proper, once the leaving certificate exams have concluded in June, to have a second sitting of them going into July. That is only fair. I say that as someone who has spent a lot of time in the classroom. Every young person should get the maximum opportunity. If by some misfortune a student has an illness – it...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: It was remiss of me not to refer to Deputy Conway-Walsh's comment that there was a reduction in school transport funding. I wish to clarify that; I should have done so. There is actually a 5% increase in funding for school transport. The reduction is a reference to the fact that, during Covid, there was 50% occupancy. Thus there was greater expenditure. There is no reduction in the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: There will always be another one beyond it as well. I understand that. Eligibility, cost and the whole lot are part of the school transport review. They are central to it. The work is moving apace and the work will be imminent. I refer to ASD and oversight and I know the planning and building unit was part of the discussion at the committee in the past week. We have a very significant...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: On the point about staff upskilling and so on, it is a great richness of the Irish education system that we have so many staff who, once qualified, are prepared to continue to upskill and train in a variety of different fields. The Deputy mentioned the RSE programme as one example. To be clear, the counselling provision will be part of the wider well-being aspect in schools and the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: The first point to make is that I respect the view of the President. It is very important that he should have the opportunity to make his own observations. I will not comment on those observations specifically. In general, it is a matter for the boards of management of schools to devise their homework policy. From my own experience, in the vast majority of schools, homework begins in the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I acknowledge the excellent work being done by the Chairman and the committee. He will be aware that the Department recently launched the Cineáltas plan - "cineáltas" meaning "kindness" - which is the anti-bullying framework for schools. It recognises that every child and young person has a right to feel safe and valued within his or her school environment. There must be zero...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I want to be clear in what I say. There is an obligation on any organisation that receives State funding to make itself available, without any aspersions being cast, for any type of review that might be necessary so that we are clear on governance structures. Officials from the Department engaged on an ongoing basis with the NPCPP. It was offered every opportunity to engage in this review...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: It was a consequence of discussion and engagement between me and officials in the Department.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: That is not correct.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 26 - Education (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Norma Foley: I have met with all the partners in education at various points throughout the past couple of years, including the NPCPP, particularly as part of its work with the advisory committee.