Results 10,941-10,960 of 19,576 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (25 May 2022)

Norma Foley: Under Article 44 of the Constitution and in accordance with Section 30 of the Education Act, 1998, parents have a right to have their children opt out of religious instruction classes if they so wish. It is expected that this right will be upheld by schools on foot of a parental request. Under the provisions of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, where schools provide...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (25 May 2022)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware the Department establishes and supports new schools, including post-primary schools, where a demographic need for a new school has been identified. Where demographic data indicates that additional provision is required, the delivery of such additional provision is dependent on the particular circumstances of each case and may, depending on the circumstances, be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (25 May 2022)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware I recently announced that arrangements are being put in place in a number of towns and areas of cities that have no multi-denominational primary schools to identify potential schools and to engage with school authorities, school staff and the school communities with a view to agreeing on a transfer of patronage and change of ethos, where there is sufficient demand...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Websites (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: It is the aim of my Department that every child has access to equitable education and that each learner irrespective of background feels safe and happy in the school environment, at every stage. I acknowledge that much of the language in the document referred to by the Deputy – the Rules for National Schools which was published in 1965 is outdated, unacceptable and does not reflect...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The Summer Works Scheme operates on a multi-annual basis to enable planned upgrading works to be undertaken at schools including in respect of windows. The bulk of the categories of works on the existing multi-annual scheme have been approved.  The next opportunity for the school to apply will be when a new multi-annual summer works scheme is announced and opened for new...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The decisions made, and which I announced in February, regarding the assessment arrangements and overall grade outcomes for Leaving Certificate 2022 reflect the disruption to their learning that has been experienced by this year’s Leaving Certificate students over the past two years, including periods of school closures whilst those students were in the Senior Cycle, as a result of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Tax Rebates (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The provision of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Compensation Scheme which was introduced in Budget 2018 aims to reduce the VAT burden on charities and to partially compensate for VAT paid by the charity. The eligibility criteria for this scheme is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Finance. However, I can confirm that as registered charities, schools that are registered with Revenue and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Tax Reliefs (24 May 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. These grants may be regarded as a common grant from which the Board of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: My Department has in place detailed design guidelines for primary and post primary school accommodation. These guidelines, are available on my Department's web-site at www.gov.ie/en/publication/7e515-technical-guidance-d ocuments. In primary schools, a mainstream classroom of 80m² in area is provided in the design of new school buildings and extensions to existing buildings. At...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The Department is not aware of any current application from the school referred to by the Deputy to source funding in order to upgrade to three phase ESB connection.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The Special Education Teaching (SET) allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile. This model has replaced the previous model of allocating resource teaching support and learning support to schools based on a diagnosis of disability. The Special Education Teacher allocation,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Child Abuse (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: The abuse of children in any setting is a heinous crime and every effort should be made to bring the perpetrator to justice through the courts system.  All reports of abuse should be reported to the Gardaí who will investigate each reported abuse.   There is no time limit on the investigation of cases of historical abuse.  I wish to reassure the Deputy that my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (24 May 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. It should be noted that of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Site Acquisitions (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy is aware, a Minister-owned site has been identified as an option for potential redevelopment to accommodate a second school. Representatives of the existing school have agreed to collaborate with my Department to carry out a master plan study to assess the potential of developing a second school on the Minister-owned site. The outcome of the master plan study will determine the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (24 May 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 you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: DEIS - Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level. My Department will spend approximately €170million on supports for schools under the DEIS programme in 2022. In the region of €16.2 million was provided to primary and post primary schools in the form of a DEIS...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (24 May 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 question to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 371 and 372 together. Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek to make further progress in reducing the pupil teacher ratios in primary schools.  At primary level, the annual staffing schedule determines the allocation of teachers to schools. The current allocation is on an average ratio of 1 classroom teacher for every...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy, that the current estimated capital cost of providing additional classroom accommodation due to a one point reduction to the primary staffing schedule is currently €21.7 million. The Deputy should note that this estimate is based on my Department's published Basic Building Costs which set the construction cost of a typical primary school classroom...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Amalgamation (24 May 2022)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy, that the decision-making authority for any amalgamation is the patron/trustees of the schools concerned and it is open to any patron to submit proposals to the Department for consideration. Any proposed change involves extensive consultation at local level and must be well planned and managed in a manner that accommodates the interests of students, parents,...