Results 12,561-12,580 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Management (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The school to which the Deputy refers was under the management of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul until it closed on the 31st August 1987. The school was established as a recognised special school in accordance with Rule 27 of the 1965 Rules for National Schools and financial assistance was provided by my Department through capitation grants and payment of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Patronage (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Draft protocols for the Identification Phase of the schools reconfiguration for diversity process have been drawn up and are currently under consideration.  Consultation with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and with Childcare Committees Ireland in relation to administering the surveys of pre-school parents is ongoing and it is anticipated that this phase will commence in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Junior Cycle Reform (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: With effect from September 2017, junior cycle provision for Irish in post-primary schools and settings will comprise two new specifications (syllabuses). The L1 (Language 1, in Irish, Teanga 1) specification is targeted at students in Irish-medium schools and students in English-medium schools who learn one or more subjects (apart from Irish) through the medium of Irish. The L2 (Language 2,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Services Staff (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: School caretakers generally pay full rate class A PRSI which brings with it cover for the full range of  social welfare benefits, including where the eligibility criteria is satisfied, payment of State pension. The State Pension, where payable, is additional to the occupational pension where the caretaker is covered by an occupational pension scheme. For those who are members of an...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Costs (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that voluntary contributions by parents are permissible provided it is made absolutely clear to parents that there is no question of compulsion to pay and that, in making a contribution, they are doing so of their own volition. The manner in which voluntary contributions are sought and collected is a matter for school management, however their collection should...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Building project at the school referred to by the Deputy has completed Stage 2A - Detailed Design of the Architectural Planning process. It became necessary during the course of the design stage to terminate the appointment of the Mechanical and Electrical engineer on this project. The tendering process for a replacement Mechanical & Electrical Engineer is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Administration (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Article 24(6) of the Student Grant Scheme 2017 provides that gifts or inheritances received in the reference period will be included as reckonable income. If any of the persons whose income is under consideration received a gift or an inheritance in the reference period, these are included in reckonable income, unless in the case of an independent student, the gift or inheritance was...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training Provision (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 645 to 650, inclusive, together. The National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT) facilitates a Workshop Programme for newly qualified primary and post-primary teachers (NQTs). The Workshop Programme consists of a series of 14 primary and 13 post-primary workshops, facilitated by practising teachers who have received training from NIPT. It is a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Council of Ireland (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Teaching Council is the statutory body that sets and upholds the standards for entry to the teaching profession.  All initial teacher education programmes (primary, post-primary and further education) in Ireland that lead to registration must have professional accreditation from the Teaching Council.  It is open to any higher institute of education to design a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff Relocation (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not hold records of staff applying for transfers to other Departments or State Agencies. In any case, transfers would be voluntary and there is therefore no cost incurred by the Department for members of staff re-located outside the Dublin region.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks Rental Scheme (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I am aware of the recommendations on school costs contained in the Joint Oireachtas Report  that was published in 2013 and I wish to make clear that I strongly support any measures that can be put in place to reduce costs for parents.  School book rental schemes have an important role to play in reducing the cost of school books for parents.  My Department supports the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Fund for Students with Disabilities (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD) and the Student Assistance Fund (SAF) are managed by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on behalf of my Department. While it is difficult to provide exact costs for future applications the HEA has estimated that the total cost of extending the scope of the Third Level Access Funds to students on part-time courses would be in the region of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: In general terms, there is nothing preventing a lone parent who is in receipt of Rent Supplement, One Parent Family Payment and/or Jobseeker's Allowance Transition payment(s) from applying to SUSI for maintenance funding under the Student Grant Scheme. Rent Supplement, One Parent Family Payments (where paid to the applicant) and Jobseeker's Allowance Transition...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Administration (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The next update of the DEIS Identification Process will take place later this year when the relevant Census 2016 and school pupil data become available for use in this process. Schools are not required to apply for inclusion in the programme as the independent data on which assessment is based is available to my Department. A key feature of the new DEIS identification process is its use...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Status (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: Schools included in the list published by my Department on 13th February are those whose level of disadvantage has been identified as being at the same level as the current DEIS category for schools serving the highest concentrations of disadvantage.  Schools which have not been included at this stage, including the one referred to by the Deputy, are those which have not been...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Gaeltacht Policy (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 658 and 659 together. An annual budget of €1 million has been allocated for the implementation of my Department's Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022 for 2017. While it is expected that the allocation for the implementation of the Policy will rise annually over the term of the Policy (2017 to 2022), specific allocations in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: DEIS Status (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 660 and 661 together. Schools were selected for inclusion in DEIS on the basis of their identified level of disadvantage which was determined by the DEIS Identification Process using centrally held data available to my Department. Through this process a school was identified as having a concentrated level of disadvantage to be eligible for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Administration (20 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that Budget 2011 provided for a number of student grant measures which came into effect for the 2011/12 academic year, including the change in the assessment of the qualifying distance criterion for the non-adjacent rate of grant from 24 kilometres to 45 kilometres. The 24km distance criterion was originally set in 1968 and had not been updated in more than 40...

Questions on Promised Legislation (1 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I congratulate Sligo for winning the new insurance apprenticeship, which is a very successful programme delivered online by the Sligo Institute of Technology. We have approximately 20 apprenticeships in the pipeline in new areas. These includes modern manufacturing, insurance, financial services and the hospitality industry right across a broad segment of sectors. We have a fresh call-out...

Questions on Promised Legislation (1 Jun 2017)

Richard Bruton: I thank Deputy Brassil for raising this issue, which I have discussed on numerous occasions in the Dáil. This Bill was on Committee Stage in the House and is being restored to the Order Paper. Deputies will recall that in the last Dáil, very significant problems arose that led to it not being possible to complete that Bill. I regard this Bill as being very important in terms of...