Results 12,901-12,920 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: No, but the trend of growing land costs will continue.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is around €30 million and this would obviously be a significantly expensive site. One has to look at the pressure points. We have 314 planning areas-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: In terms of whether it has impacted, the answer is no. We continue to increase the number of places we are providing. Last year we provided 22,288 places, so when compared with the previous year's 19,300 places, we increased the number of places by 3,000 in the year. It is becoming more expensive, both due to building costs and site costs, but we are getting additional budget to respond to...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: A site for the new school will often be provided by the patron. That would be the arrangement in most of these cases. More recently, I understand that new schools are not being built on patron's sites - they are being built on State sites where we have full ownership, which gives us that additional flexibility. That seems to be the pattern.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: It depends on the circumstances as to whether it is of value to us from an educational perspective.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The way the Department would approach this is to examine each case on its merits. Obviously, if an old school had a future use we would pursue that. If an old building had very limited value at that stage, we had a lien on the building and the land was in the patron's ownership, we would have very little by way of an asset to pursue. As regards the issue of whether we can deploy them for...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: No, the Department would not be doing that. In those circumstances the patron would acquire the site but it would be transferred to State ownership with a lien.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: No. The State gets a new school which we build.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: If the old site was originally in the ownership of the patron, it remains as such.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: They would have provided the site to us in some of those circumstances, so there would be an arrangement in each case to protect the State's investment to the best advantage.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: Every case will be done to the best advantage of the taxpayer. Most new schools will be built on greenfield sites where we might have a competition for the patron. We would then own the school and the site, which would be a different situation whereby we retain ownership. Where there is an old, disused school and we are moving to a new site, the Department would look afresh at that in...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2017 (Resumed)
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (Revised) (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: None immediately.

Order of Business (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy has referred to three Bills-----

Order of Business (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: First, regarding the QQI Bill, it is important that we have a robust system in place to ensure standards and the reputation of the education system. The Bill is important in that context. As the Deputy knows, we have the ambition to earn €2.1 billion from international students. That would represent a 33% increase in the number of such students and we need to underpin it with...

Order of Business (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Bills must be introduced in such a manner as to ensure their passage through the Dáil.

Order of Business (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: If there are outstanding issues on which the House will not agree, we need to find a way to resolve them before bringing the legislation back before the House. That is what I am seeking to do.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The person refered to by the Deputy has been teaching since 1st July 1975 and has been serving as a Deputy Principal since 1st September, 1987.  The information relating to whether this person is the longest serving Deputy Princpal in the State is not information that is maintained by my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Data (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. The State Examinations Commission operates a scheme of Reasonable Accommodations in the Certificate Examinations. Full details of the scheme are available from their website: www.examinations.ie/candidates/reasonableaccommodations In view of this I have forwarded...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Guidance Counsellors (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: Up until September 2012, an ex-quota allocation was provided for guidance in addition to the standard teacher allocation to post primary schools. This resource was allocated in accordance with pupil enrolment. 42% of second-level schools at the time were allocated at least 22 hours per week in respect of guidance (22 hours being the equivalent of one teaching post) while the remainder of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Circulars (16 May 2017)

Richard Bruton: My ambition is to make the Irish education and training service the best in Europe within a decade. To deliver on my ambition to be the best we have to improve information and complaint procedures for parents and students, particularly in relation to costs. I want to give parents a strong voice in ensuring costs are always kept to a minimum. I believe that we have to put a greater emphasis...