Results 81-100 of 728 for speaker:Sorca Clarke in 'Dáil debates'

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Facilities (30 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: I understand the change in the payment date happened in the 2019-20 school year, when the country was in the grip of a pandemic. Without a shadow of a doubt, the minor works grant is second only to teacher shortages in terms of the education queries that come across my desk. The issue causes significant challenges for schools, in particular the payment date. The Minister has said it is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Teacher Training (30 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: I will go back to the balance between public and private providers. We often say that people cannot be what they cannot see. This is particularly the case in the teaching profession. We need to see diversity in our teaching staff. We need to see teachers who adequately reflect their own learners. Where training provision is moving towards being private only or a disproportionate amount...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Teacher Training (30 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: 66. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of teacher training places available for the year 2023-24; and how many are provided by public colleges and how many by the private sector. [52533/23]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Teacher Training (30 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: I am mindful as we are here this morning that this is the first time for education questions since the horrific attack on the students and the care provider in Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire, on Parnell Square, last week. I place on the record not only my fear as a parent and my revulsion as a public representative but also my hope and my wishes that each and every single one of those...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Teacher Training (30 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: It is about ten years since this cap came in. One of the concerns I have is a report that states that four times as many places are being offered by just one private college and that more than one in three new primary teachers have come from the private market. I understand there can be strategic reasons for limiting the number of teachers trained. However, simply allowing the private...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (30 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: I support Deputy Bruton in the context of what he said. It may sound really peculiar that a TD from Longford-Westmeath is speaking about Clongriffin, but I was at that train station at 6.30 a.m. It is an area I am very familiar with. I utterly concur with the sentiment of feeling abandoned. It is grossly unfair. The Minister spoke of the access from the Baldoyle side. I recommend that...

Escalation of Violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Motion [Private Members] (14 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: We must refer Israel to the ICC. Its actions have horrified those of us across Europe and the wider world who are graced with the protection of distance from these attacks. The deliberate targeting and killing of thousands of civilians, with the targeting and destroying of civilian infrastructure, hospitals and schools and the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, is beyond...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (9 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: I did not hear the Minister mention one number - either a financial number or numbers for the year 2024 to which my question related. He has not provided new funding for maternity services in budget 2024. We all know that these strategies need additional year-on-year funding to develop to continually improve and expand on the services. If this strategy does not get new funding, it calls...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (9 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: When the Minister says that it is not funded to the same level, I take that to mean none. Zero additional funding will be put into breastfeeding supports. I have concerns about the other care services for women, an issue he touched on in his response, and that is gynaecological services. The budget identifies no new funding for these and the funding to meet the waiting list action plan...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Hospital Services (9 Nov 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Could the Minister outline the level of additional core funding for new developments, excluding funding for carry-over and the maintenance of existing service levels, that has been allocated for the national maternity strategy for 2024? This strategy is essential to improve healthcare for women, from preconception, pregnancy and birth to postnatal and neonatal care, across acute, primary and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (25 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Hearts were broken for the Israeli lives lost on 7 October, and the horrific loss has been roundly condemned. In Israel's siege of Gaza we are bearing witness to human catastrophe on an unimaginable scale. Last week, the Dáil became one of the first parliaments in the world to call for a ceasefire. It was an important international signal that other parliaments should follow. The...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (25 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: The recent flooding experience in Cork and Waterford was absolutely horrendous and the impact will be felt for a long time to come. That displacement from home, that destruction of property, the loss of livelihood and the fear of what the future looks like takes an unimaginable toll on people. Those affected by the recurring nightmare of flooding along the River Shannon, those who farm from...

Health Service Funding: Motion [Private Members] (24 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Budget 2024 did nothing to relieve the sense of catastrophe that is growing in the health service, which is not only breaking the will of the staff, but it is also breaking the will of vulnerable people in need of medical care. Based on the countermotion the Government put forward, one thing is very clear. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will continue to throw out predictable lines, ignoring...

Funding for Persons with Disabilities: Motion [Private Members] (17 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Each and every one of the letters I hold today has come from a user of the services of the Irish Wheelchair Association in Mullingar. They were dropped into my office yesterday by somebody who works with them. I will use their words to describe how they are feeling. The first letter states: I am a person with a disability and rely heavily on my personal assistant from the Irish...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Curriculum (17 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Will the Minister outline to the House where the counselling and well-being service ceases and NEPS steps in? There seems to be a level of confusion, particularly if we look at the budget for 2024. The budget for NEPS last year was €33 million, while this year, in the Minister's budget, it is €9.7 million. That is a considerable drop. Will the Minister outline the impact or...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Transport (17 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: We could almost set our watches at this point for when the phones will start ringing and the emails will start coming in with school transport queries. This year was no different. In many ways, it is becoming Groundhog Day. Year in and year out, there are issues with the school transport scheme. While the €50 million is welcome, as would be any investment in school transport, we...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Transport (17 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: That has not been my experience. I have a case where one brother got a ticket and the other did not. Their mother told me she would be driving behind the school bus. That is not an unusual or unique situation. When parents contact Bus Éireann, they are met by a disregard almost for the query they have and the pressure this scheme puts them under. While I acknowledge the funding...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Capitation Grants (17 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Everybody wants to see those ended but it means proper resourcing for schools.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Capitation Grants (17 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Additional, from January.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Capitation Grants (17 Oct 2023)

Sorca Clarke: Permanent.