Results 8,901-8,920 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Circular 31/2011 details a cascade of measures for recruitment of teachers, prioritising unemployed registered teachers over retired registered teachers and registered teachers over unregistered persons. Each principal must report to his or her board of management on a regular basis on the fact that a list of unemployed registered teachers is being maintained, and the circumstances in which...

Written Answers — Languages Programme: Languages Programme (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 280 and 281 together. As the Deputy is aware a 2008 Report by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) identified serious issues with curricular overload at primary level. The NCCA's advice recommended that, for the present, modern languages should not be part of the Primary School Curriculum as an additional and separate subject. The primary...

Written Answers — Teaching Qualifications: Teaching Qualifications (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The eligibility terms for access to the supplementary panel are based on a teacher's service in the primary school system in a fixed term, substitute and part-time capacity. There are no plans to expand these arrangements to include teaching experience in schools outside of Ireland. The detailed arrangements are set out in my Department's Circular 0012/2012 which is available on my...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The grant referred to by the Deputy is not paid by my Department directly to a person providing accommodation. Rather it is paid to the parents of the qualifying child. It is the responsibility of parents to ensure that the accommodation which they secure for their child is of an acceptable standard. My Department has no role in relation to setting down minimum standards for accommodation,...

Written Answers — State Examinations: State Examinations (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The State Examinations Commission operates a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations in the Certificate examinations. Applications for such accommodations are submitted by schools on behalf of their students. Full details of the scheme is available for downloading from...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 286, 287 and 293 together. The July Education Programme (July provision) allows schools to open for the month of July, to accommodate pupils with severe and profound educational needs, and children with autism. This is in response to concerns that children with autism and severe educational needs can regress over the summer due to the loss of structured...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning and the Stage 2(b) submission (Detailed Design) was approved by the Departments Planning and Building Unit on 30th November 2011. The project was not included in the 2012 construction programme announced in December 2011. For purposes of the 5 Year Plan announced in March...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: To satisfy the terms and conditions of the student grant scheme in relation to progression, a student must be moving from year to year within a course having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course. The objective of this policy is to help as many students as...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy is referring to the change in the qualifying distance criterion for the non-adjacent rate of grant which was introduced by the previous Fianna Fáil - Green party Government under Budget 2011. The economic circumstances of the country are such that I regret that I am not in a position to reverse or vary any of the changes to the student grant scheme in relation to the qualifying...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The information requested is not readily available and it would require a considerable commitment of time and staffing resources to compile such a listing. I do, however, have information to hand in relation to the number of retired members of my Department's staff that were re-hired in 2011 and during the first quarter of 2012. In all 15 retired staff were re-hired in 2011 and 4 were...

Written Answers — Ministerial Transport: Ministerial Transport (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The cost for the provision of ministerial transport at my Department in 2011 was €57,248.77. In 2012 the cost to date is €36,919.50 and includes the salaries of the two civilian drivers plus the employer's P.R.S.I. contribution together with relevant subsistence expenses claimed by the Drivers. My Department does not have the financial information required by the Deputy in relation to...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 296 and 301 together. The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning. The Design Team are currently working on the Stage 2a Submission (Developed Sketch Design). To ensure that every child has access to a school place, the delivery of projects to meet the increasing demographic demands will...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The student referred to by the Deputy recently had their appeal considered by the independent Student Grants Appeals Board. In order to be considered for a grant a student is required, under Section 8(1)(b) of the Student Support Act 2011, to be in attendance on a full-time basis. The course referred to by the Deputy does not require a student to devote their whole working time to their...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on my Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing arrangements in schools for the 2012/2013 school year can also be...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The information requested is outlined on the table. In 2008 my Department established a process to centrally monitor proposals to engage external consultants. As a result of this process consultancy expenditure since 2008 has been kept to a minimum. My Department continues to monitor proposals to engage external consultants with a view to keeping expenditure in this area as low as...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning. The Design Team are currently working on the Stage 1 Submission (Site Report/Suitability and Initial Sketch Scheme). Due to the financial constraints imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of school accommodation to meet the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Department issued Circular 0012/2012 in March, 2012 which is available on the website, setting out the arrangements for access to the redeployment panels for the 2012/13 school year for eligible registered primary teachers in fixed term, substitute and part-time positions. The closing date for receipt of applications for access to the redeployment panels was 20 April, 2012. The...

Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 [Seanad]: Second Stage (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to bring the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 before the House. The main purpose of the Bill is to amalgamate the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, known as HETAC, and the Further Education and Training Awards Council, known as...

Private Members' Business. Referendum (Amendment) (Varying Of Polling Day) Bill 2012 — First Stage (Resumed) (22 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: It is time for that to be done.

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (17 May 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, as part of the overall Budget measures announced last December, it was signalled that it is proposed to amend the means test for student grants to take account of the value of certain capital assets as well as income for new applicants from the 2013/14 academic year. A Capital Asset Test implementation group has been convened to develop and bring forward detailed...