Results 9,861-9,880 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Other Questions: Schools Site Acquisitions (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Department works with the patron body and keeps it informed of everything it seeks to do in these areas. I understand that separate sites are identified for these two schools that are being progressed and I shudder to suggest that we should scrap the progress that has been made and come up with another approach. I fear that would delay the project. I do not have the detailed knowledge...

Other Questions: Teacher Career Breaks (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: In the past two years I have successfully hired 5,000 extra teachers. We are hiring more teachers than at any other time in the State's history. As the Deputy has indicated, issues have arisen. The provisions of the career break scheme are set out in chapter eight, Terms and Conditions of Employment for Registered Teachers in Recognised Primary and Post Primary Schools, which is published...

Other Questions: Teacher Career Breaks (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The context of the career break scheme is clear. Its purposes are set out in the answer I just gave. The scheme is not for purposes such as switching career. The obligation is on the board of management to decide on the matter. I am happy to leave the arrangement where it is, namely, with the decision made at local level, but the boards must bear in mind the needs of the children and the...

Other Questions: Teacher Career Breaks (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy that the Teaching Council will be involved in this group. The difficulty with the question of career break is that if someone has a permanent post and they leave, it can only be filled with a temporary post, which is less attractive for the school and the teacher. Career breaks need to be thought out by the school for that reason. I acknowledge there are pressures in...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects Status (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The school referred to by the Deputy is an all-Irish national school serving the heart of Dublin city which is currently located in rented accommodation in Parnell Square. Current enrolment stands at 202 pupils with a current staffing of one principal plus eight mainstream teaching posts and three special education support teachers. The site for the school is quite restricted and is bounded...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects Status (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: On timing, the letters of intent issued to the apparently successful tenders on 12 December 2017, which is a relatively recent date. It is not possible for me to forecast when various stages will complete. As the Deputy said, this started as a plan for an eight-teacher school, but that changed. Changes of that nature are beyond my capacity to predict and it would be very hazardous for me...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects Status (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: This will be dealt with as speedily as possible within my Department. It is, of course, necessary to use temporary accommodation at times. In an ideal world we would not be doing it, but schools grow at different paces and one has to be flexible. Temporary accommodation is a necessary way to deliver a consistent programme over time, but I take the Deputy's point and hopefully we can make...

Other Questions: Schools Site Acquisitions (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: My Department has been seeking to acquire suitable permanent sites in the area for some time. In accordance with the memorandum of understanding, my Department continues to work with officials in Fingal County Council to identify and acquire school sites and this process is ongoing. A new site has recently been procured in Mooretown, Swords, and a building project is planned which will...

Other Questions: Schools Site Acquisitions (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: I understand the Deputy's difficulty with this. The Malahide-Portmarnock Educate Together primary school has six classes accommodated in the Teagasc building in Kinsealy. There was an evaluation of sites but they ultimately proved unviable. A potential permanent site has been identified and is being progressed in respect of the secondary school. In both cases the Department must work with...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Minor Works Scheme (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The position is that schools do not need to apply for the minor works grant. This is something we pay on the basis of capitation, and it is so much per child and so much per school according to a formula. What I am saying very clearly is that we paid it before Christmas and we will pay it again on the same basis in January 2019. We will be paying it for each school year and we will...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Minor Works Scheme (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The uncertainty arose because there was some question around paying last year but I made the payments last year. There was tightness in 2018 which I have described to the Deputy. I have resolved that by committing to pay this in January 2019.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: Reduced pay scales for new entrants to the public service were introduced in 2010. I am pleased that, under the Lansdowne Road Agreement, together with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform I negotiated a programme of pay restoration with the teacher unions. Through this process, a 15% to 22% pay increase was negotiated for new teachers. The agreements to date have restored an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy the number of students graduating as teachers is stable. There has been no fall in the number of graduates and what has happened is that we have dramatically increased the level of recruitment. In terms of graduate supply from the master's programme referred to by the Deputy, he is right that the number of applicants for that programme has fallen. However, the number...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Teachers' Remuneration (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: There are issues in teacher supply and they are the ones I am addressing. There is the issue of substitution and the issue of subject areas, which I am addressing, and I am also planning to double the number of undergraduate places for teaching. Those are very solid responses to needs that we all acknowledge. It is worth pointing out to the Deputy that, back in 2014, before I made the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Broadband Service Provision (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The group we have includes not just our representatives but also HEAnet, which has been very progressive in the roll-out of digital technologies, and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The Deputy is correct that the elements of putting this in place will partly come from commercial roll-out and Eir and others are doing that. It will partly come from the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Broadband Service Provision (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The reason we have an interdepartmental working group is to ensure that we keep abreast of changing technologies or, indeed, changes in commercial provision. However, Eir has a plan and it reiterated yesterday that it would deliver that plan even though it is pulling back from the national broadband plan. It would be short-sighted of the Department to suggest that Eir's potential to fill a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Minor Works Scheme (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The minor works grant was first introduced in 1997 and since then has issued to primary schools each school year with the exception of the school year 2012-13. The grant most recently issued to all primary schools last December in respect of the school year 2017-18. The payment of the minor works grant is not confined to any particular date and can be issued during any month of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Minor Works Scheme (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: The tricky issue is that one is balancing population pressures with other legitimate demands on our capital budget. I believe what we have worked out here is a satisfactory arrangement. We recognise that 2018 will be a difficult year because there are so many demands on the scheme. We made the payment before the end of last year and we have given schools advance notice that the next...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: Ensuring that children with special educational needs are supported and given the opportunity to reach their full potential is a key priority for this Government. Since 2011 we have provided 12,000 extra pupils with special needs assistant, SNA, support. The investment has been very substantial. There have been 3,545 additional SNAs since 2011, over 2,000 in the last two years. There have...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (1 Feb 2018)

Richard Bruton: We are establishing these special units at a very rapid pace. There are 180 planned for next September. To have a special class the NCSE must ensure that there are enough children so that it will be a sustainable class. It has to consider present and future need. While it will not always be possible to provide an ASD unit in the child's own school for that reason the NCSE has informed the...