Results 11,481-11,500 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn

Written Answers — School Patronage: School Patronage (2 Nov 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together. My Department is compiling the list of community schools and the religious trustees as sought by the Deputy. This will be sent to the Deputy shortly. The Deed of Trust to which the Deputy refers essentially grounded the roles and responsibilities of the trustees of the schools on a property lease relating to the plot of ground involved....

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The processing of student grants is carried out by local grant awarding authorities – VECs and local authorities. In the circumstances, it will be necessary for the student in question to contact her grant awarding authority to ascertain the position with her application.

Written Answers — Third Level Charges: Third Level Charges (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 33 to 38, inclusive, together. Universities are autonomous institutions within the meaning of the Universities Act 1997 and my Department does not have any function in relation to their academic affairs, including decisions concerning course provision, postgraduate fees, consultation processes with students or the issuing of diploma supplements. I understand...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The processing of student grants is carried out by local grant awarding authorities – VECs and local authorities. In the circumstances, it will be necessary for the student in question to contact his grant awarding authority to ascertain the position with his application.

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy is referring to the change in the qualifying distance criterion for the non-adjacent rate of grant which was introduced by the previous Fianna Fáil - Green party Government under Budget 2011. As that Government had factored in the savings from this and other changes to the student grant scheme to the public expenditure programme for 2011, I regret that I am not in a position to...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: There has been no change as to how local grant awarding authorities measure distances for student grant purposes. As in the past for all cases, the shortest most direct route to the institution attended is measured. I understand that a range of mechanisms can be used, for example, online mapping such as AA Route Planner and Google Maps. If the distance is disputed, the matter should be...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating teaching staff and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to special schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Departments criteria in allocating such support. My...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The processing of student grants is carried out by local grant awarding authorities – VECs and local authorities. In the circumstances, it will be necessary for the students in question to contact their grant awarding authority to ascertain the status of their applications.

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Visiting Teacher Service for Children and Young People with a Hearing Impairment is provided by my Department from the time of referral through to third level education. The Visiting Teacher service provides advice and support to parents and schools to ensure the needs of children and young people with hearing impairment are met. This service is available at pre-school, primary and...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department provides an extensive range of supports for pupils with Specific Speech and Language Disorder. My Department provides for the establishment of special classes for Specific Speech and Language Disorder in primary schools. Applications to establish such classes are considered by the school's assigned Special Educational Needs Organiser. Those...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The Deputy will be aware 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 schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. Circular...

Written Answers — Summer Works Programme: Summer Works Programme (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy applied for funding under the 2011 Summer Works Scheme. A list of 453 successful schools was announced on 30 March 2011. Applications from schools for gas, mechanical and electrical works were prioritised under the Summer Works Scheme funding this year and I regret that the application made by the school in question was not...

Written Answers — Vocational Education Committees: Vocational Education Committees (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: In arriving at the decision on the headquarter locations of the new Education and Training Boards, I considered a range of factors including the need to ensure that the location of a VEC headquarters will, to the greatest extent possible, facilitate staff redeployment under a redeployment scheme within the context of the Croke Park Agreement and the need to operate at lowest cost having...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: The processing of student grants is carried out by local grant awarding authorities – VECs and local authorities. The Deputy will appreciate that in the absence of all of the details that would be contained in a student grant application form, it would not be possible for me to say if a student would qualify for a grant. However, to satisfy the terms and conditions of the student grant...

Written Answers — Vocational Education Committees: Vocational Education Committees (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy will be aware, it is my intention to lease the former community school site, including the sports complex referred to by the Deputy, to the City of Dublin VEC. My Department has requested the VEC to ensure that the club referred to by the Deputy continues to have use of the facility following execution of the lease. I am advised that the VEC has provided a draft user...

EU Funding (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I share with the Deputy my concern about the maladministration of this set of programmes by the previous Administration. I will be honest with the Deputy. It is not a satisfactory situation. I am not sure what precisely we can do at this point in time but we have certainly missed one tide in regard to it and I hope we have not missed the whole tide. I apologise to the workers involved....

Minority Faith Schools (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I assume the Deputy is referring to the withdrawal of certain funding from minority faith schools with effect from 1 January 2009, which realised an annual saving of €2.8 million to the Exchequer. The grant was withdrawn due to real concerns about the constitutionality of making it available to fee-charging schools of one ethos and not to those of another. As these schools no longer...

Minority Faith Schools (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: As the Deputy would be aware, this country has lost its economic sovereignty. We are under a programme of restructuring. We are required to extract from the public expenditure side of our equation a sum of the order of €3.63 billion plus for the coming fiscal year, 2012.

Minority Faith Schools (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: That is the Deputy's educated estimate. I will stick to the brief I have. That money will be a mixture of expenditure reduction and changes in taxation, and decisions on those matters have not yet been finalised. They are under active discussion. The Department of Education and Skills is one of the big spending Departments along with the Department of Health and the Department of Social...

Summer Works Scheme (26 Oct 2011)

Ruairi Quinn: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. St. Mary's boys national school, Belturbet, County Cavan, applied to the Department of Education and Skills under the 2011 summer works scheme to construct a new flat roof extension to contain four additional toilets and a new disabled toilet of solid block construction with asphalt concrete roof. The school has a staffing level of three teachers...