Results 10,661-10,680 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: Where a board of management make a decision to refuse admission, a parent/guardian can appeal that decision under section 29 of the Education Act, 1998, and an independent appeals committee will be appointed to consider the appeal. The role of the section 29 hearing committee is to examine the application for enrolment and consider if it was correctly processed by the school, in accordance...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: My predecessor as Minister for Education announced revised arrangements for the Junior Cycle 2020 on 29 April 2020. Under these revised arrangements and in light of the exceptional circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were asked as soon as possible after the end of the 2019/20 school year, to furnish students with a written school report on their learning achievements...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The property referred to by the Deputy is not in my ownership. In common with other buildings which are or have been used as a school, there is a charging lease in place on the property to protect the State's investment in the property. There has been communications between my department and the owner of the former school building with a view to examining whether the property has any...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to the Deputy. 

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I can advise the Deputy that the legal costs incurred by the State's legal team in defending cases in which I am named as a party are not met directly by my Department. In accordance with established financial procedures such costs are generally charged to the Chief State Solicitors Office (CSSO) Vote as sanctioned by the Attorney General (AG). Accordingly my Department does not hold the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m in 2021. The purpose of my Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department is at the forefront of design with respect to sustainable energy in school buildings and this performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification. Schools that are designed and built in accordance with the Departments Schools technical guidance documents must achieve an A3 Building...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I announced on the 9th March that from next September the DEIS programme will be extended to an additional 310 schools. 37 schools will also benefit from additional supports following reclassification. Schools were identified for inclusion in the programme through the refined DEIS identification model which is an objective, statistics based model. Schools were not required to apply for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Reports (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: A commitment was made under the Programme for Government to ensure robust data collection on the use of reduced school days and to further ensure that they are only used in a manner that is limited, appropriate and absolutely necessary. My Department issued guidelines to schools on reduced school days in September 2021 which came into effect from 1st January 2022. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: Traditionally the interest of the State in respect of capital expenditure on privately owned properties used as schools were secured by way of charging leases. Where the property ceases to be used as a school the owner can seek to have the charging lease terminated. Such applications are considered by my Department on a case by case basis. Some of the factors which my Department would have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy will be delivered under my Department's ADAPT Programme.  ADAPT is an acronym for the "Accelerated Delivery of Architectural Planning and Tendering".  The ADAPT Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: 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. For the 2022/23 school year, the staffing schedule for primary schools has been improved by one point and schools will be provided with class teachers on the basis...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The purpose of the Review of Out of School Education Provision was to inform future policy and sustainability for the sector. My Department is currently in the process of establishing a working group to progress the recommendations of the Review of Out of School Education Provision. In 2021, both the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS)...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department is aware of proposals under consideration by the school in question and a third party which may facilitate the submission of an application for additional school accommodation. My Department has advised the school authority on how to progress such an application under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme following their discussion...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department provides funding to all recognised schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs including heating, lighting etc. and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. I have committed to seeking funding for further increases in the capitation...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries arising,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: The provision of counselling and therapeutic services in Ireland for children and young people is led by the Department of Health, through HSE Primary Care Psychology for low to moderate mental health difficulties and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for more severe mental health difficulties. My Department signposts schools and students to the HSE-funded mental health...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: Planning permission for the Secondary School to which the Deputy refers has been granted and phase 1 of the building is currently under construction. It is anticipated that the school will occupy the building in late August. There is no building project under way or planned for the primary school to which the Deputy refers. My Department will shortly be applying for a further planning...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation Scheme (ASA) from the school in question.  The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (21 Jun 2022)

Norma Foley: In reference to the interim site to which the deputy refers, work is under way and the Department will be making a Section 5 application to the relevant local authority this week.