Results 11,061-11,080 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: 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: DEIS Eligibility (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department recognises the very important role played by the island schools in maintaining the communities and culture of the islands, and is strongly committed to the maintenance of the schools on the islands. It is for this reason and in recognition of challenges that the Department already provides additional supports to schools on the islands. As the Deputy may be aware, the key data...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department recognises the very important role played by the island schools in maintaining the communities and culture of the islands, and is strongly committed to the maintenance of the schools on the islands. It is for this reason and in recognition of challenges that the Department already provides additional supports to schools on the islands. The Department’s Policy on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Designation (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on the Department's website. The schools to which the Deputy refers are Education and Training Board (ETB) schools. The Department provides a staffing allocation to each ETB and the distribution of this staffing allocation including Island School posts and Small School posts is a matter for the Chief Executive...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board, is an independent statutory body established pursuant to the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 to oversee the use of the cash contributions of up to €110 million, pledged by the religious congregations, to support the needs of survivors of institutional child abuse. The organisation is responsible for the day to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: The annual report of the outgoing independent appeals officer appointed to consider appeals against decisions of Caranua, the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Board will shortly be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in fulfilment of the requirement set out in section 21(5)(c) of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: Earlier this year I appointed two new appeals officers to consider appeals against decisions of Caranua. These appointments were made in accordance with the provisions of section 21 of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012. The appeals officers are entirely independent in the performance of their statutory functions. I am advised that there are currently 76 cases...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Services Staff (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: Schemes were initiated in 1978 and 1979 for the employment of Clerical Officers and Caretakers in primary and secondary schools. Staff employed on these schemes are paid directly by my Department and are not paid via grant funding. The 1978 and 1979 schemes are being phased out and have been superseded by a more extensive capitation grant scheme. The majority of primary and voluntary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Emergency Works Scheme Applications (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school in question has been approved funding under my Department’s Emergency Works Scheme and the school authority have been notified.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Provision (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: The purpose of the Home Tuition Grant Scheme is to provide a compensatory educational service for children with Special Educational Needs where a school placement is not available as confirmed by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE), through the local Special Education Needs Organiser (SENO). The availability of a school placement is assessed by the NCSE having regard to,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Funding (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that the proposals to develop a more sustainable funding model for the higher education system are contained in the Cassells report, currently being considered by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills. The Cassells report was referred to the Joint Committee in order to build political consensus around the most appropriate future funding model for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Costs (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: Recurrent funding to institutions amounted to €1.3 billion in 2007. The level of investment by the State in higher education declined as a result of the economic recession and the number of competing priorities for reduced levels of public funding. It should be noted that the reduction in funding levels was offset somewhat by public sector pay cuts and the rise in the student...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Expenditure (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: In 2018, the budget for my Department will increase by €554 million to over €10 billion, a 5.8% increase on last year’s budget allocation, and the largest ever allocation. This allocation reflects the strong belief of this Government that investment in education is vital to creating a Republic of Opportunity, where every person and every family has the opportunity to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: The quality of our doctoral education is vital to the development of Ireland’s human and knowledge capital. The National Framework for Doctoral Education provides for the highest standards in the provision of doctoral education and research through the endorsement of a number of key principles. These principles include facilitating consistent excellence in the quality of postgraduate...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: In September 2016, I launched the first Action Plan for Education (2016-2019), which sets out our ambition to make the Irish education and training service the best in Europe by 2026. The Action Planning process recognises that there is no big bang solution and that our success will be achieved by the implementation of hundreds of actions across the sector in its entirety. I noted at the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Recruitment (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to takes Questions Nos. 142 and 145 together. Budget 2018 marks the second year of major reinvestment in the education sector, as we continue to implement the Action Plan for Education, which has the central aim to make the Irish Education and training service the best in Europe within a decade. Budget 2018 provides for an additional 1280 teaching posts in the 2018/19 school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 143, 144, 146 and 147 together. My Department’s policy is that children with special educational needs including those with Autism, should be included in mainstream placements with additional supports provided, unless such a placement would not be in their best interests or in the interests of the children with whom they are to be educated, as is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 148 to 154, inclusive, together. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. My Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places across these areas will arise. The GIS uses data from a range of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Institutions (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: The higher education system continues to respond strongly to the challenge of meeting Ireland’s human capital needs and has continued to increase enrolments in recent years to meet the demand for higher education places. The performance of the system in meeting human capital needs is also strong by comparison with other European countries: Ireland has one of the highest rates of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (25 Oct 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department is very aware of the importance of small schools to rural communities, particularly the most dispersed and remote communities. As the Deputy will be aware in order to sustain primary schools in these communities my Department has a more favourable staffing schedule for small schools that are more than 8km distant from the next nearest school of the same type of patronage...