Results 10,621-10,640 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Teacher Education: Teacher Education (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will arrange for the Deputy to be contacted on this matter by the Teacher Education Section of my Department.

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

Ruairi Quinn: Under my Department's student grant schemes, eligible candidates may receive funding provided they are attending an approved course at an approved institution as defined in the relevant scheme. I understand that the college referred to by the Deputy is a private college and is not on the list of approved institutions for student grant purposes. However, the tuition fees payable in this case...

Written Answers — Behavioural Support Service: Behavioural Support Service (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I would like to inform the Deputy that the National Behaviour Support Service (NBSS) was established by the Department of Education & Skills in 2006 in response to the recommendation in School Matters: The Report of the Task Force on Student Behaviour in Second Level Schools (2006). The role of the NBSS is to assist partner schools in addressing current behavioural concerns on three levels....

Written Answers — Teacher Education Centres: Teacher Education Centres (24 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The details the Deputy has requested are set out in the accompanying document. Budget allocations are made following consideration of proposals submitted by each Education Support Centre in January of the relevant year. Full Time 2010 2011 Centres Athlone 180743 180743 Blackrock 250834 250834 Carrick On Shannon 191391 191391 Clare 128399 128399 Cork 276669 276669 Donegal 256905...

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

Ruairi Quinn: The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) received Exchequer funding in the amount of €2.438m in 2010 and €2.478m in 2011.

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

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, an extensive programme of reform has been ongoing since this Government came to office. The recently published Public Sector Reform Plan identifies the introduction of new arrangements for managing the performance and governance of State Agencies as a deliverable action. Such arrangements will include the greater use of Service Level Agreements with Departments...

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

Ruairi Quinn: The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the accompanying table. In line with the requirements of the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies, details of the number of Board members, including remuneration and expenses paid, are provided in the Annual Reports of the Agencies, many of which are available on the Agency websites. The Deputy may wish to note that my...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together. I announced in the House on 11 January that my Department will be reporting to me within four weeks on the impact of the withdrawal of certain posts allocated under previous disadvantaged schemes in DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 primary schools, following concerns raised with me by some schools that will be adversely affected by these budget...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: There never was any intention to remove any of the DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 allocations to those schools. What was proposed with the introduction of DEIS in the mid-2000s was that in schools located in DEIS areas which, prior to the introduction of DEIS, had received disadvantaged status of a particular kind and had received, as a consequence, some posts - a much smaller number than those of...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I agree with the Deputy Crowe analysis of the perception out there. An existing DEIS school that does not have any legacy posts could be scheduled to lose a post because numbers have fallen under the general allocation model. That number projected to possibly come out of the system was presented by some of the schools' advocates to Members of the Oireachtas as part and parcel of the specific...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Nobody is disputing that.

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: On Deputy Smith's question, unfortunately my predecessors - his colleagues - did not upgrade the information gathering system and we still use pigeon post to send the data. The census is completed manually by each school at the end of September and then it has to be collated manually.

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: It is an enormous exercise considering that 3,200 primary schools must fill in, perhaps, 20 fields of information. The information cannot even be filed electronically. We had the data from the previous year last September. I am hoping to address the issue but the Department's data system is not great and, unlike the Department of Social Protection, the data do not speak to each other. I...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is responsible through its network of local special educational needs organisers for allocating special needs assistants, SNAs, to schools to support children with special educational needs. Some 10,297 of the total 10,575 SNA posts available for allocation have now been allocated to schools by the NCSE, leaving...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: The Department does not allocate resources because this is the responsibility of the council. Given that it is a specialist council which draws on professional inputs, I will not second-guess it as a politician nor will the civil servants in my Department who lack the necessary qualifications second-guess it. I regard the appeals system as independent and the Department has no role in...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will not interfere with the professional assessment of people who are charged with making decisions on allocating resources. The fact that they have provision for 10,575 posts does not mean they have to allocate all of them. If they did so they would be applying different criteria. People who were refused SNA resources six months ago could find that SNAs were allocated in cases where the...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: Guidance is a whole school activity and under existing arrangements each school is expected to develop a school guidance plan as a means of supporting the needs of its students. These requirements have not changed and my Department's forthcoming circular will make this clear and point schools to the relevant documentation and guidance available to support such work by schools.

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I have heard the arguments and I have met representatives of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. I understand the difficulties associated with the modern world in which we all live. Many regular subject teachers have told me that they would probably be the first to notice a difference if a pupil was experiencing external pressures. I am talking about pastoral care rather than career...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I may have misled the Deputy. I will obtain clarification on this. The information from the briefing I got, which I placed on the record of the House on Tuesday evening, was that 42% of secondary schools do not have a designated full-time guidance counsellor. That is not to say they did not have people with guidance counselling qualifications who are delivering a portion of that service as...

School Staffing (19 Jan 2012)

Ruairi Quinn: I will get clarification for the Deputy.