Results 10,541-10,560 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (26 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy has made an application to my Department for large scale capital funding. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria and the appropriate band rating has been assigned. The current status of all projects on the school building programme, including the school referred to by the Deputy, may...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (26 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The new simplified approach to the General Allocation Model of support for schools will make it easier to automatically update it annually in line with the changes in the number of classroom teachers in each school. Schools will also have autonomy on how to deploy the resource between language support and learning support depending on their specific needs. The arrangements for the staffing...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (26 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), is responsible for processing applications from primary and post primary schools for special educational needs supports. This includes the allocation of resource teaching hours to schools as well as the establishment of special classes in...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (26 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that a number of sections of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act have already been commenced. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) made recommendations which suggested that additional investment over a period of years of up to €235 million per annum, across the education and health sectors, would be required to fully...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (26 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Along with my colleagues in Government, I recognise the importance of ensuring students from a Protestant background can attend a school that reflects their denominational ethos. At a time of great strain in our public finances, however, we have to ensure the valuable but limited resources available for the education system are used in the best way possible. The staffing schedule at primary...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (26 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The announcement I made on 11 January in relation to my Department reporting to me within four weeks refers only to the impact of the withdrawal of certain posts allocated under previous disadvantaged schemes in DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 primary schools. The school to which the Deputy refers is not included as part of this report as the school in question is not included in the DEIS programme...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (26 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on my Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The relevant appointment and retention figures for mainstream staffing for the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The brief and schedule of accommodation for the school building project referred to by the Deputy has been completed. The next phase of the process for the appointment of a design team will be the publication of invitations to tender on the Governments e-tenders web-site. Officials from my Department will contact the school authority when the tendering process is about to commence. The...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The question of enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authority of those schools. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking places. In this regard, the Government's Medium Term Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework, which was published on 10th November 2011, sets out...

Written Answers — Modern Language Teaching: Modern Language Teaching (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: There are a range of foreign languages available on the curriculum in schools -- French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Arabic. Chinese and Portuguese are not on the curriculum. A Post Primary Languages Initiative has been in place since 2000 with the objective of diversifying language provision in schools, focusing particularly on Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Russian....

Written Answers — State Examinations: State Examinations (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in tabular form. It will be seen that participation in Physics has declined, but a greater proportion are taking the subject at higher level than heretofore. Chemistry and Applied Maths have shown modest increases. Biology has expanded rapidly, allied with an increase in the proportion taking the subject at higher level. Participation in...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the revised arrangements, which will update schools' General Allocation Model (GAM) allocations, based on the number of class teaching posts in schools for the previous year, reflect existing arrangements whereby differing pupil teacher ratios are applied under the GAM in relation to boys, girls and mixed schools in order to account for differentials of...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As I outlined to the Deputy last week, my Department is currently in the process of acquiring a site for the school to which she refers. An application for planning permission forms part of the site acquisition process. A design for the school was discussed with the school authority and following those discussions a revised school design is currently being finalised.

Written Answers — Teacher Assessment: Teacher Assessment (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The issue of quality of teaching within a school falls within the remit of the board of management and principal of that school. It is the duty of the board to provide, or cause to be provided, an appropriate education for all students attending the school. In September 2009 my Department issued circulars 59/2009 and 60/2009. These circulars provide a framework for schools to manage...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: My Department is currently considering the application referred to by the Deputy and a decision will be conveyed to the school authority as soon as this process has been completed.

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Last year I put in place revised procedures and criteria for the establishment of new schools. I also announced as part of the new procedures that an independent review body, the New Schools Establishment Group, would report to me on the proposed patronage arrangements for the new schools following a detailed analysis by my Department of the applications from prospective patrons. Full details...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 83 together. The new second level school for Lusk is one of 20 new schools, announced by the Minister in June 2011, to be established in the next 6 years. It will be a post primary school for 1000 pupils and it is anticipated that the first intake of pupils will be in September 2013. The construction of the new school will be delivered in phases. The...

Written Answers — Scoileanna Gaeltachta: Scoileanna Gaeltachta (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: D'oibrigh scoileanna i gceantair Gaeltachta riamh anall an sceideal céanna foirne le scoileanna eile chun críche post mhúinteora ranga a chruthú ag an mbunleibhéal. Bhí sceideal beagán níos fabharaí i bhfeidhm chun ceadú do scoileanna Gaeltachta post a choimeád idir na Bandaí de cheathrar agus dáréag múinteoir ranga.Maidir leis an mbeart buiséadach chun líon na ndaltaí a...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I fully acknowledge that the reduction in resources to second level schools will be challenging for schools. However, the change must be seen in the context of the major challenges we have as a Government in trying to shelter public services to the greatest extent that we can in these exceptional times. The net impact on overall teacher numbers in our schools has been minimised to the...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: A redundancy application from the person referred to by the Deputy was received by my Department on 9th September 2011. Applications are processed in date order of receipt and every effort is being made to process these applications as quickly as possible. Applications received in July 2011 are currently being processed. Extra resources have been assigned to the Redundancy Unit to ensure...