Results 10,301-10,320 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Communications (16 Jan 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Department of Education in Skills has email filtering in place which endeavours to quarantine incoming emails that are categorised as containing profanities.  The email filtering also endeavours to quarantine incoming email categorised as being of excessive size, containing viruses/malware/executables, originating from sites with a poor reputation or spam.   Specifically in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Strategies (16 Jan 2018)

Richard Bruton: Details in relation to advertising for information campaigns in 2017 in my Department will be collated in early 2018. I will arrange to have the information forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it has been compiled.

Questions on Promised Legislation (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: In respect of the placement of any child, the special needs organiser will seek to assist a parent in finding access to a place. If the Deputy wants to provide me with the information, I will seek to have it followed up on her behalf.

Questions on Promised Legislation (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: As Deputy Howlin well knows, the admissions Bill developed originally by his party's Minister and then published by the Government did not contain any provision to change the rules on admission on grounds of religion. Indeed, the Bill also did not contain any provision to allow the Department to designate schools which should open special autistic spectrum disorder, ASD, units. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Healthy Living Strategies (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department is supportive of the promotion of healthy lifestyles in schools and has issued circulars to support and strengthen schools’ efforts in developing in young people the skills and attitudes needed to make informed decisions about their health. Schools and the wider education sector in conjunction with parents and families have a crucial role to play in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, a building project for the school to which he refers is included in my Department's 6 Year Construction Programme.  The acquisition of a suitable site for the school's permanent accommodation has recently been completed.  Arrangements are now being made to finalise the project brief for the school concerned with the aim of progressing the project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff Data (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department has a regional office of the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) based at Drogheda. Presently the staffing cohort at the office consists of 1 Senior Educational Psychologist, 7 Educational Psychologists and 1 Clerical Officer.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Discipline (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 and 173 together. Circular 0059/2009 set out the disciplinary procedures for teachers employed by Vocational Education Committees (VEC). A separate Circular (Circular 60/2009) sets out the disciplinary procedures for non-VEC teachers. The procedures were negotiated and agreed with the education partners in accordance with Section 24(3) of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Fee Refund Scheme (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: The purpose of the Teacher Fee Refund Scheme is to provide funding towards the cost of course participation and examination fees on successful completion of professional development courses that are directly relevant and of benefit to schools and that are subject to certification/award by an appropriate accreditation authority recognised by my Department. Applications for funding under...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Creative Ireland Programme (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department has supported the Creative Ireland programme throughout 2017 with funding for two elements of the Creative Youth programme. Two teachers were seconded to the Arts Council in September of this year to begin work on Scoileanna Ildánacha/Creative Schools. This initiative will begin a pilot cohort of 150 schools across primary and post-primary levels in 2018. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Commencement of Legislation (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: The information that the Deputy has requested is set out in tabular form. Act Sections yet to be commenced Details Teaching Council Act 2001 Sections 39 This section relates to the continuing education, training and professional development of teachers. In relation to commencement, regard will be had to the development by the Teaching Council of Cosán, the national framework for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pay (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Public Service Pay and Pensions Bill 2017, which gives effect to the pay measures contained in the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA), is currently being considered by the Oireachtas. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has overall responsibility for the Bill. The PSSA provides a framework for further negotiation on a number of issues, including new entrant...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Expenditure (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to the HEA institutions. The HEA allocates this as a block grant to institutions to cover teaching, research and supporting activities. The internal allocation of this grant is a matter for each institution. However, details of expenditure incurred in respect of counselling services in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: The current staff:student ratio in the higher education sector is 21:1. This is calculated based on the 2016/17 enrolment figures.  This is based on the ratio of full time students to core teaching staff. A breakdown of the ratio for the years 2013 - 2017 is detailed for information. Higher education is a priority for this Government. Budget 2017 provided...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Schemes (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: HEAR is a college and university admissions scheme offering places on reduced points and extra college support to school leavers from socio-economically disadvantages backgrounds.  The HEAR scheme is operated by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and regulated by the higher education institutions themselves and not by my Department. The operational management of HEAR...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: The major building project referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning Stage 2b (Detailed Design), which includes the application for statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been secured. The Stage 2b submission has been reviewed by the Department and in August 2017 my Department issued comments on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm that I have received the correspondence referred to and a response has issued.   The school in question has opted to participate in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme which provides schools with the opportunity to access extra supports and resources on the basis of the implementation of specified language-based criteria. To date, these resources have included...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: The school referred to by the Deputy were requested to submit architectural size site drawings recently for each of the proposed options and these have now been received. It is now proposed to arrange for a site visit by a member of the Department's Professional and Technical staff to review the options presented. When this is completed my Department will be in contact with the school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy may be aware, a project to provide permanent accommodation for the school in question is included on my Department's Capital Programme. Officials in my Department are liaising with officials in the relevant local authority in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the identification and acquisition of a suitable site to facilitate this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Minor Works Scheme (14 Dec 2017)

Richard Bruton: There are significant demands placed on the 2018 education capital budget due to demographic pressures, and the imperative of ensuring a school place for every child. I indicated to the House last week that it is unlikely the Minor Works Grant 2018/2019 will issue during the 2018 calendar year and that it will probably have to be paid early in 2019. I should point out...