Results 10,561-10,580 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

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

Ruairi Quinn: The acquisition of a site for the school to which the Deputy refers has reached pre-contract stage and outline Planning Permission has been received. The Office of Public Works on behalf of the Department are engaged in pre-contract enquiries in relation to the special conditions within the contract. Due to commercial sensitivities, I am not in a position to comment on the matter any further....

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

Ruairi Quinn: Teachers are allocated on the basis of a pupil teacher ratio of 20:1 in fee-paying schools. Under the recent budget measures this will increase to 21:1 with effect from September, 2012. The budget measures also provide for guidance to be managed in the future by all schools from within their standard staffing allocation. Schools will have autonomy on how best to prioritise its available...

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

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 and 90 together. The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data at individual school level in county order. The most recent information available relates to the 2010/2011 school year. Statistical information in respect of the current school year is currently being compiled in my Department and is due for publication in September...

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

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, in June 2011, I announced that 20 new post-primary schools are to be established in the next six years across a number of locations to meet significantly increasing demographics in those areas. This announcement did not include a proposal to establish a new post-primary school in the area referred to by the Deputy. The Forward Planning Section of my Department...

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

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that, in 2010, my Department sanctioned a grant of €260,000 to the school to which he refers for the provision of an Autistic Unit and a mainstream classroom. I understand that this building project has now been completed and that the grant has been drawn down in full. My Department considers that this level of accommodation should be sufficient to meet the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Senators who have contributed and for the broad support for the Bill. Some people were familiar with it in another time. As Senator Fidelma Healy Eames said, it is the first time this House has debated the Bill. It is a short Bill that embraces some fundamental points of education. As Senator Power said, the measures are largely technical and I will deal generally with the...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: It may have been done but it is not regarded as very good practice. I have already dealt with the High Court case and the advice of the Office of the Attorney General. I have a note on redeployment, which states: We already have an agreed redeployment scheme at second level which worked well in 2011. A previous version of the second level redeployment scheme was the subject of a High Court...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: However, if it is accelerating something that will happen in any case, why not-----

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: They will decide. When a school loses a teacher, the school does not necessarily close. The teacher does not lose his or her job, and this is why we had the debate on deployment. We need, however, to ascertain how we can achieve the delivery of a quality primary education system in parts of the country where the populations have changed, for reasons we all understand. We must determine...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: It does. If one is trying to deliver equality of educational outcomes, ranging from a school with two teachers teaching six pupils each to one-----

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: That is what we have at present; that is the threshold. It is 12 for the second teacher. Consider the spectrum beginning with a primary school of that scale and ending with one such as the one I opened recently just outside Naas, which has 700 pupils, including young pre-school, crèche and special needs children. Trying to deliver the same curriculum to the latter school, with its...

Seanad: Education (Amendment) Bill 2012: Second Stage (25 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on the Second Stage of the Education (Amendment) Bill 2012. Before I turn to a detailed explanation of the provisions of the Bill, I will explain its background. As Senators may be aware, a previous edition of this Bill, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 was brought before the Dáil in October 2010 by my predecessor, Mary Coughlan....

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: There is no deduction from the Pension of the person referred to by the Deputy for the value referenced by him in the details supplied. However, there is a deduction for a slightly higher amount which is in respect of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR). The Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) applies to the pensions of civil and public servants with effect from 1 January 2011....

Written Answers — Third Level Courses: Third Level Courses (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: A review group has been established by the Minister for Health to examine the content and structure of the current nursing and midwifery degree programmes including the points of entry, clinical placement requirements and governance arrangements having regard to overall workforce planning needs and new patterns of service delivery within the health system. Following completion of the review...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The 2012 allocation for the NCTE which is now part of the support services for schools is currently under consideration and my officials are having discussions with the management of the Dublin West Education Centre in this regard. I expect that a decision will be made shortly. Previous allocations for this work were €5,120,000 in 2010 and €3,828,326 in 2011.

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: In line with the nationally agreed contract for Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) full-time SNAs are required to work for the normal classroom hours including class break periods in the school that they are working in, and in addition to be available for a period of time before and after school in order to help with such duties as reception and dispersal of children and preparation and tidying...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware all primary and post-primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA). Schools that do not currently have NEPS psychologists assigned to them may avail of the SCPA, whereby the school can have an assessment...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for the relevant grant awarding authority. The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the relevant details that would be contained in an individual's application form and supporting documentation, it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student should qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant....

Written Answers — School Supervision and Substitution Scheme: School Supervision and Substitution Scheme (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The cost of substitution cover claimed by the managerial authorities of secondary and community/comprehensive schools to provide replacements for teachers absent from their teaching posts on work associated with state examinations in the academic years 2009/10 and 2010/11 are as follows: 2009/2010 - €1.389 million 2010/2011 - €1.386 million

Written Answers — Departmental Funding: Departmental Funding (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: This Government recognises the importance of ensuring that students from a Protestant or reformed church background can attend a school that reflects their denominational ethos while at the same time ensuring that funding arrangements are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. With regard to the fee-charging Protestant schools, an arrangement exists whereby funding is...