Results 8,381-8,400 of 36,764 for speaker:Enda Kenny
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: Monster meetings began with a Kerryman many years ago.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: I am not sure whether that one is considered to be a monster meeting or not.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: This is an issue that needs to be considered very carefully.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: Deputy Fleming mentioned four, three and two-teacher schools, and some that have become one-teacher schools. The Government has no intention of closing any schools. The problem is that in many areas, the demographics over the next period are going to mean a continued drop in the number of children who are born-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: The pupil-teacher ratio is one issue. The number of children born and living and eligible to go to school in any locality is another. Where I come from, there has been a huge drop in numbers in many rural areas. There are 14 one-teacher schools in the county at the moment.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: I do not support the concept of one-teacher schools. They are not in the best interests of children. The numbers can be very small and the schools do not have all of the facilities or the competitive peer activity that children would expect in school.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: This is an issue that needs to be looked at very carefully and in the longer term. I did not hear any proposition coming from the monster meeting in Kerry except "Do something about it."
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: What needs to be done is-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: -----to look at the projections for the number of years ahead for every school-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: -----and say to people, if the trend continues, that the population of school-going children is dropping in many localities in rural Ireland.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: This has got to be examined in the context of what we must do for the future. Do we provide incentives for communities in order that they will want to continue with the school if it becomes a one-teacher school-----
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: -----or should the school consider amalgamating with another school? These are issues that need to be addressed.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: There are many parishes in my own county where the number of eligible children of school-going age has dropped away completely.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: It is not like it used to be a hundred years ago, when schools were built within walking distance. It is all very different now. Population numbers are way down in many areas.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: I accept that this issue is of great importance to people all over the country.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: An enrolment Bill is coming before the Dáil in the not too distant future. We need to look to the longer term and to the future of the numbers in these schools. I thank the Deputy for raising the question.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: Nobody believes that parents should be stressed or put under pressure in respect of their children. That is one of the reasons the Government has the objective of introducing universal health insurance in the long term. In the short term, nobody wishes to see parents stressed by difficulties with their children. Clearly, a far greater degree of discretion has been applied because 22,000...
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: The important issue is whether there is an outstanding treatment, facility or product that either of the two children needs, because parents need to know that they are not blocked from access to the treatment and facilities. In the second case, my understanding is that everything the child requires is being made available. If Deputy Calleary has different information on outstanding...
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: We cannot have a situation where people are put under that pressure. The Keane report was commissioned to report on whether to give medical cards on the basis of an illness and it said that cannot be.
- Leaders' Questions (11 Feb 2015)
Enda Kenny: Therefore, one goes back to the income threshold and discretion after that. It is in the application of the discretion that the Deputy's question, which is a valid one, must be dealt with. As the Deputy has raised the matter, I hope the people dealing with this can tell us what is outstanding for either of the children in terms of treatment, facility or product.