Results 8,921-8,940 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Weight of Schoolbags: Weight of Schoolbags (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Report of a working group to examine potential problems caused by the weight of schoolbags, which was presented in July, 1998, acknowledged that many of the solutions belong at local school level. One of the main recommendations of the report related to the need to heighten the awareness of the potential health hazards posed by excessively heavy schoolbags. In this regard, my Department...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Officials in the School Planning Section of the Department are working closely with the relevant authorities in Newbridge to determine how best to meet both the immediate and long-term educational needs of the area. The issues of site acquisition to facilitate both temporary school accommodation and permanent buildings and the need for a further school at primary level in the future, in...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Under the terms and conditions of the Maintenance Grants Scheme for students attending Post Leaving Certificate Courses., which is administered by the VEC on behalf of the Department, generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The survey to which the Deputy refers has been commissioned by Offaly VEC and the Department awaits further communication from the VEC on the matter.

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: An application was submitted to the Department under the Small Schools Scheme 2007 by the school referred to by the Deputy. Due to the volume of applications received in the Department it was not possible to allocate funding to all proposed projects and the school referred to by the Deputy was not successful in this instance. The Department also received an appeal from the school in...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Building Unit of my Department has no record of an application for funding for works to the boiler from this school under the Emergency Works Grant Scheme. However, I have arranged for an application form to be issued to the school for completion and return.

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The school referred to by the Deputy originally applied for an extension and refurbishment to provide for improved ancillary accommodation, such as a General Purpose Room, a Multi-purpose/Staff Room, a Remedial Room and a General Office. The project proposed did not include additional mainstream classrooms and having regard to competing demands on the building programme the application was...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The breakdown of the 2008 building budget between the devolved and other schemes has not yet been determined.

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available and would take an inordinate amount of administrative time to compile. As the Deputy will be aware, major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years. There are now 5,000 more primary teachers than there were in 2002. By the 2006/07 school year, we had reduced the average class size in our primary...

Written Answers — Residential Institutions Redress Scheme: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Under the terms of the Indemnity Agreement between Church and State which was concluded in June 2002, the congregations concerned agreed to make a contribution of €128 million towards the Redress Scheme. This was broken down as follows: Cash Contributions — €41.14m; Provision of Counselling Services — €10m; and Property Transfers — €76.86m. The cash and counselling...

Written Answers — Residential Institutions Redress Scheme: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Residential Institutions Redress Unit was established under Statute in 2002. Its primary function is to provide financial redress to victims of child abuse in residential institutions in order to assist them in their recovery and to enhance the quality of the remainder of their lives. I wish to advise the Deputy that the sum paid out by the State to date in respect of claims taken by...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: In relation to Montessori-trained teachers, two Montessori qualifications are currently recognised for the purpose of appointment to the following posts in primary schools: resource teaching posts, special classes and special schools. The two recognised qualifications are (i) the three-year full-time course in the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) College, Mount St. Mary's,...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: County Mayo Vocational Education Committee has advised my Department that the paying authority, Mayo County Council, intends to pay the increase in pension to the pensioner concerned on 2 November 2007.

Written Answers — School Services Staff: School Services Staff (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I am aware of the views of the Irish Science Teachers' Association in this matter. Significant progress has been made in progressing a range of areas highlighted in the Report of the Task Force on the Physical Sciences. For example a new science curriculum has been introduced at primary level supported by a resource grant in December 2004 of €1000 per school plus €10 per pupil and a...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: My Department funds four maintenance grant schemes for third level and further education students which are administered by the Local Authorities and the Vocational Education Committees. The Higher Education Grant Scheme operates under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992. Generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are...

Written Answers — Ministerial Transport: Ministerial Transport (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The information sought by the Deputy is as detailed in the following table. The Ministers of State who were paid domestic mileage for each of the last four years and the current year to date are former Minister of State Síle De Valera and Minister of State Seán Haughey. Seán Haughey 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 € € € € € Travel 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 14,640.38 Total 0.00 0.00...

Written Answers — Departmental Advertising: Departmental Advertising (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: My Department's advertisements are placed by Brindley Advertising Ltd in various media on the instruction of the relevant section of the Department for particular campaigns. When advertising nationally and locally my Department seeks at all times to maximise the reach or exposure of each particular campaign or initiative. It is not feasible to include every newspaper or radio station in every...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Property Management Section of the Office of Public Works which acts on behalf of my Department in relation to site acquisitions generally has been requested to source a site for a new national school in Ringaskiddy. A site has been identified and negotiations on its acquisition are ongoing. Its acquisition will be subject to Contract and to availability of funding. When a site is...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Tenders for the first bundle of schools to be built under my Department's current Public Private Partnership programme consisting of four schools including St. Mary's CBS and Scoil Chríost Rí in Portlaoise were returned to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) in July 2007 and the tender evaluation process has been completed. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that Macquarie...

Written Answers — State Agencies: State Agencies (16 Oct 2007)

Mary Hanafin: It is considered that the information sought by the Deputy constitutes personal information within the meaning of the Data Protection Acts, therefore, it is not considered appropriate to supply the information requested. However, my Department can supply general information in relation to salary scales used in the education sector. This information is currently being compiled in my...