Results 9,061-9,080 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Topical Issue Debate: School Staff Appeals Mechanism (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this issue. I can understand the concern raised with him by Scoil Mhuire. This is an historic situation. The allocation of teachers for next September, that is, September 2018, is based on the enrolment of September 2017. It is applied universally across all schools. The threshold needed to get an additional teacher is 113. As the Deputy probably...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: When the Deputy's party was last in government we were building 9,000 places. We are now doubling that and are building 18,000 places. We are meeting those commitments and delivering a very expansive programme. We have great ambitions for the future and we have set aside €8.8 billion for school capital for the coming years. This shows a huge commitment in the area of school...

Other Questions: School Accommodation Provision (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, it is my intention to replace all purchased temporary accommodation with permanent accommodation, where the need is established, over the lifetime of my Department's capital programme from 2016 to 2021. To enable this development, my Department will be carrying out an assessment of the number of prefabs being used in schools to deliver the curriculum. This will...

Other Questions: School Accommodation Provision (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: Obviously this assessment will be based on prioritising need. It will look at the cases where there is the greatest urgency, but it will also look to ensure that the population requirement will continue to justify permanent construction. It has to make sure that the decision made in each case is the best economic decision for the long term. That will the basis for the prioritisation. As I...

Other Questions: School Accommodation Provision (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I will have to get the Deputy a report on Newtown school. I am not familiar with the particular needs there but I will get the Deputy a report on it.

Other Questions: Schools Site Acquisitions (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that we had a meeting in Donegal and I took that opportunity to meet those concerned about this matter. It is not fair to say that considerable effort has not been put into this. A number of site options were explored by the local authority on our behalf. Negotiations were initiated with the only landowner who was willing to negotiate. They have proven...

Other Questions: Schools Site Acquisitions (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I can assure the Deputy there is no unwillingness to prioritise this matter. I also believe the switch to Donegal County Council - this is a pattern right across the Department's portfolio - is not the cause of the delay in this instance. There are genuine underlying problems that we need to sort out. I share the Deputy's sense of urgency around this but, nonetheless, we have to find a...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: My Department's capital programme continues to address the challenges posed by the significant bulge in pupil enrolments going through our schools. There has been significant expansion in the rate of provision of new school places. The capital programme details the school projects that are being progressed through the architectural planning process. We are building more schools and...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The evidence is there. We have increased our capital budgets by 56% since 2013. In the mid-term review I secured an additional commitment of more than €200 million for 2019 to 2021. In the long-term capital programme we have €8.4 billion assigned to the school building programme. There is no doubt during the past seven or eight years there has been a unique expansion at both...

Other Questions: Public Private Partnerships (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I reiterate my original reply. DIF is targeting all six buildings to be operational for the beginning of the coming school year, with the most advanced schools to be delivered earlier in the summer. The fund, not the Department, is receiving the tenders and it expects to receive final bids from the tenderers with whom it has had extensive engagement by early April. DIF is handling the...

Other Questions: Schools Site Acquisitions (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Deputy for raising this. We had a meeting on this not so long ago. The project in respect of the education campus in Buncrana is included in my Department's capital programme. The Department is working closely with Donegal County Council in relation to the proposed site acquisition. The site acquisition process to date has been protracted. A number of options are available to...

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Deputies will have to wait to see the full details, but this will provide in-school therapy services as well as professional support and guidance for school staff and parents. It will provide a direct service - speech and language therapists will be allocated specifically to the pilot schools - and support schools to build their capacity to deal with children who have-----

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: -----special needs in terms of speech and language. This is a way of getting a win-win outcome. The evidence has been that having speech and language therapy solely available on a referral basis, which will continue, has not been adequate. We need to build the capacity within the education system to support schools directly and to build the capability of teachers, SNAs and school leaders...

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: This is an exciting project-----

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: -----and it will make a significant difference to schools' capacity to provide in this area.

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy is trying to-----

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy just seems to want a speech and language therapist sitting inside the school gate-----

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: -----without integrating in any way with the school, its capacity, parents or teachers.

Other Questions: Speech and Language Therapy (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: This is about ensuring that teachers and SNAs have the capacity to identify early children who have such needs and that children have direct access to speech and language therapists who are directly assigned to support their schools and provide a service. This is about building the capacity of the system to identify early, to support children with special speech and language needs and to do...

Other Questions: Public Private Partnerships (29 Mar 2018)

Richard Bruton: InspiredSpaces is the special purpose vehicle, SPV, that was set up to deliver the schools bundle 5 PPP project, which involves the construction and operation of five school buildings and one further education college across four sites in Bray, Wexford, Kells and Carlow. Carillion Private Finance is a 50% shareholder in InspiredSpaces, together with the Dutch Infrastructure Fund, DIF....