Results 10,881-10,900 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to primary and post primary schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating...

Written Answers — Disadvantaged Status: Disadvantaged Status (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Government has prioritised targeted supports for schools with the most concentrated levels of educational disadvantage. These supports will continue to be targeted through the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) scheme, which is focussed on 670 primary schools and 195 post-primary schools with particularly high levels of disadvantage. This scheme is designed to ensure...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: While difficult choices had to be made to identify savings across my Department's remit, the Government has gone as far as it could to protect front line services in 2012. The recent changes announced in the Budget were made within the context of bringing our overall public expenditure back into line with what we can afford as a country. The challenge is to ensure that the resources that are...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 120 together. As part of the Budget decisions announced last week, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a teaching post in small primary schools will be gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014. The schools concerned are those with four or less classroom teachers. It is important to emphasise that no small schools will...

Written Answers — Disadvantaged Status: Disadvantaged Status (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 105, 125, 126, 131, and 122 together. The Government has prioritised targeted supports for schools with the most concentrated levels of educational disadvantage. These supports will continue to be targeted through the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) scheme, which is focussed on 670 primary schools and 195 post-primary schools with...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions 106 and 107 together. As you will be aware from the budget announcements, there is no increase in the general average of 28:1 for the allocation of classroom teachers at primary level. However, the staffing arrangements in schools for the 2012/13 school year can also be affected by changes in their enrolment, the impact of other budget measures and the reforms to...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware from the recent budget announcements, there is no increase in the general average of 28:1 for the allocation of classroom teachers at primary level. However, the staffing arrangements in schools for the 2012/13 school year can also be affected by changes in their enrolment, the impact of other budget measures and the reforms to the teacher allocation process. The...

Written Answers — Departmental Statistics: Departmental Statistics (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Statistics section of my Department's website contains data at individual primary school level in county order for the 2010/2011 school year. The information includes the number of teachers and pupils in each primary school. See file called Class Size information at individual school level 2010/2011 at http://www.education.ie/home/home.jsp?pcategory=17216&ecateg ory=47122&language=EN. ...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: While difficult choices had to be made to identify savings across my Department's remit, the Government has gone as far as it could to protect front line services in 2012. As part of the Budget decisions announced last week, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a teaching post in small primary schools will be gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014. The...

Written Answers — Departmental Statistics: Departmental Statistics (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Statistics section of my Department's website contains information at individual primary school level in county order for the 2010/2011 school year. The source of this data is the National School Annual Census. Statistical information in respect of the current school year is currently being compiled in my Department and is due for publication in September 2012.

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (15 Dec 2011)

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 it would not be possible for me to say whether or not a student would qualify for a student grant. Ultimately, a student must apply to his her grant...

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The information requested is not currently available. My Department's officials will collate the relevant material and I will forward a final response to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: For the Deputy's information, the following advisory groups etc have been established since my appointment as Minister for Education and Skills: (1) Advisory Group to convene the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector. This Forum was officially launched on 19th April, 2011. Its terms of reference are to advise the Minister on: - how it can best be ensured that the education...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware that due to the need to close the gap between revenue and spending, unpalatable savings measures are necessary and savings in the student grant scheme were inevitable as part of that. In this regard, I have adopted a fees only contribution at postgraduate level but this will continue to provide support for a relatively wide number of post-graduate students. While...

Written Answers — Education Schemes: Education Schemes (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) is a third-level admissions scheme for students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The scheme is operated by a number of higher education institutions and not by my Department. Admissions to the institutions under this programme are regulated by the institutions themselves. Further details are available at www.accesscollege.ie

Written Answers — Teachers' Remuneration: Teachers' Remuneration (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Scheme for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers in Second Level Schools is set out in Circular 29/2007 and was agreed under the auspices of the Teachers' Conciliation Council, a body established in accordance with the terms of the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for Teachers which is made up of representatives of the teacher representative bodies, school management...

Written Answers — Third Level Expenditure: Third Level Expenditure (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I would like to apologise to the Deputy for the delay in supplying this information, but as outlined in my response of the 29th November, in most cases the information sought was not readily available. The HEA has been liaising with the seven universities over the last number of weeks with a view to obtaining as much information as is possible. This information is now attached. Please note...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The student in question wished to be assessed as an independent mature student for student grant purposes. His grant awarding authority decided that the documentation submitted by him did not sufficiently support this position. This decision was upheld by its appeals officer. Following a review of the case, my Department subsequently upheld the appeals officer's decision. This outcome was...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: Until now, a specific resource was provided for guidance in addition to the standard teacher allocation to post primary schools. In future, schools must meet their guidance requirements from within the overall resource provided by that normal staffing schedule. Individually schools can continue to make provision for guidance and counselling. Decisions on how this will be done will be taken at...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (15 Dec 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: A major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy was included in the School Buildings Work Programme for 2011 announced last January. The project was listed for completion of the brief and the appointment of a design team. The brief was recently completed and the process of appointing a Design Team will commence shortly.