Results 10,881-10,900 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Order for Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007: Second Stage (15 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to bring the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2007 before the House. In doing so I propose to give effect to a key recommendation of the task force on student behaviour that section 29 of the Education Act 1998 be revisited with a view to amending it to stress the rights of the compliant majority to learn while at the...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I can confirm to the Deputy that the Board of Management of the school to which he refers has agreed the long term projected enrolment for its school which is based on the projected demographics for the area. It is a matter for the Board of Management to move to acquire any additional land required to cater for its proposed extension project. When this has been done, the building project...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The proposals of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in relation to Irish were submitted to me in late December, and I met representatives of the Council to discuss them on 31 January 2007. I am currently considering the proposals. It is an important goal of Government that oral competence in Irish as a living community language is strengthened, and that the subject is taught...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Information in relation to class sizes is provided in the annual census of primary schools. The census for the current school year (2006/2007) is currently being worked on. Major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years. At the beginning of the current school year there are no less than 4000 extra teachers in our primary schools, compared with 2002. The...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The number of teachers and special need assistants (SNAs) employed in primary and Secondary/ Community Comprehensive schools in December 2006 were Number Primary Teachers 28,405 Primary SNAs 6,974 Teachers (Secondary schools) 13,439 Teachers (Community/ Comprehensive schools) 4,196 Teachers Vocational Education Committees) 7,879 SNAs (Secondary and Community/Comprehensive) 895 SNAs...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The information is not available in the format requested by the Deputy. Classroom accommodation is not provided in isolation as my Department provides a range of ancillary accommodation in addition to classrooms. My Department did publish on its website last year a document entitled "School Building Programme Key Achievements 2000 to 2005" which includes details of school building projects...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Information in relation to class sizes is provided in the annual census of primary schools. The census for the current school year (2006/2007) is currently being worked on. Major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years. At the beginning of the current school year there are no less than 4000 extra teachers in our primary schools, compared with 2002. The...

Written Answers — Teaching Qualifications: Teaching Qualifications (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Restricted recognition is granted to teachers, who trained outside the State and who hold a recognised primary teacher qualification, and to teachers with certain approved Montessori qualifications. Such teachers are eligible for appointment to posts in certain categories of special schools, to posts in categories of special classes in mainstream schools where Irish is not a curricular...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 332 to 334, inclusive, together. The school referred to by the Deputy has submitted an application to my Department for a building project. The long-term staffing figure on which accommodation needs will be based has been determined and notified to the school authority. It has been agreed that appropriate accommodation should be provided to cater for a...

Written Answers — Schools Amalgamation: Schools Amalgamation (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Agreement was reached some years ago between the management authority of the school referred to by the Deputy and the authorities of two other primary schools in the area to amalgamate. A new eight classroom school is currently under construction to accommodate the amalgamated school. The final decision on amalgamation rests with the patron of those schools, subject only to Departmental...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The School Planning Section of the Department is in receipt of an application under the Small Schools Scheme 2007 from the management authority of the school to which the Deputy refers. Applications under this scheme are currently being assessed and the list of successful applicants will be announced shortly.

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: My Department is not aware of any agreement in respect of a grant to the group referred to by the Deputy. Indeed, in respect of Parliamentary Question No. 38275/05 dated 7th December 2005 and other representations on this matter, it was made clear that my Department does not provide direct funding for special interest groups such as that referred to by the Deputy. Schools have considerable...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: All applications for capital funding for the provision of extensions, refurbishments or new schools are assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria which was agreed with the Education Partners.

Written Answers — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme. DEIS will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. As a result of the identification and review...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The building project for this school is currently on the School Building Programme to go to tender and construction. Stage 3 documentation is currently being examined by the Department's technical staff. When Department officials are satisfied that all Stage 3 documentation for this project is in order, devolved authority will be given to the school authorities to progress the project to...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: I can confirm that the Department is in receipt of an application under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme 2007 from the Board of Management of the school to which the Deputy refers. All applications under this scheme are currently being assessed and the list of successful applicants will be published shortly.

Written Answers — Language Support Services: Language Support Services (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: In order to meet the language needs of students in our schools whose first language is not English additional support is given to their schools which can take the form of financial assistance, additional teaching posts or portions of posts. The level of extra financial or teaching support provided to any school is determined by the numbers of eligible non-English speaking students enrolled....

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: Major improvements have been made in staffing at primary level in recent years. There are now no less than 4000 extra teachers in our primary schools, compared with 2002 and approximately 7,000 more than there were in 1997. The average class size in our primary schools is 24 and there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc. Children with special...

Written Answers — Departmental Properties: Departmental Properties (14 Feb 2007)

Mary Hanafin: The Department has been in communication with South Dublin County Council in relation to land in its ownership in Dublin 24. However, the Department is in the process of carrying out a review of educational provision in the Tallaght area generally and the outcome of this review will inform any decisions in relation to future use of the site in question.