Results 12,961-12,980 of 19,032 for speaker:Ruairi Quinn
- Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: Under my Department's student grant schemes, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. Details of the 2011/12 student grant scheme are due to become available following publication, currently...
- Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The â¬30 million allocation for the school building programme referred to by the Deputy was for small to medium scale works. Construction is already underway, since February 2011, on a large scale extension/refurbishment project at the schools referred to by the Deputy. Therefore there will be no requirement for additional funding for these schools from the â¬30 million allocation.
- Written Answers — School Closures: School Closures (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 161 and 160 together. The value for money review on small schools, currently being carried out by my Department, is part of the normal review processes undertaken by all Departments on an annual basis on selected areas of expenditure and is being conducted in line with the standard procedure for value for money reviews. These procedures require that the views...
- Written Answers — Literacy Levels: Literacy Levels (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The aim of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is to assess the literacy competency levels of adults between the ages of 16-64. It is not designed to collect detailed data on participants' educational history. However, PIAAC will provide some information on the levels of education achieved and on the profile of the participant, including country of...
- Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The Education Act provides for the right of parents to send their children to a school of the parents' choice, having regard to the rights of patrons and the efficient use of resources. The Act also places specific obligations on the system to contribute to the realisation of national policy and objectives in relation to Irish, to the maintenance of Irish as the primary community language in...
- Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: In general, individual school authorities are responsible, in the first instance, for ensuring the safety and welfare of children and others in their care, including traffic management measures. The issue of road safety measures outside the vested site areas of schools, such as road signage, traffic calming measures etc., is a matter, however, for the relevant Local Authority. Local...
- Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The Summer Works Scheme was introduced in 2004. The purpose of the Scheme is to devolve funding to individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works which, ideally, can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. Under the terms of the Scheme, school authorities are empowered to manage these works with...
- Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 and 169 together. An additional â¬40m worth of school projects will commence this summer under the Jobs Initiative, of which â¬30m will be spent this year. Some â¬20m of this has been reallocated by me from within my own Department's 2011 capital allocation for higher education and an additional â¬10m has been made available to the Department from the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The information requested by the Deputy is provided in the following table. Agency Name Amount of fees payable to IBEC 2007 â 2011 to date 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 FÃS(See Note 1) â¬55,123.98 â¬58,583.14 â¬58,583.10 â¬0 â¬0 Further Education and Training Awards Council â¬1,616.00 â¬1,681.00 â¬1,681.00 â¬1,463.00 â¬1,337.00 Higher Education and Training Awards Council...
- Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The student grant schemes include provision for grants to eligible students pursuing certain full-time undergraduate courses of at least two years duration within the EU. The position is that the third level grant schemes do not extend to postgraduate study outside of Ireland. The Deputy will appreciate that the current economic circumstances are such that I am not in a position to consider...
- Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: My Department has issued a number of directives to schools to ask them to prioritise newly qualified teachers over retired teachers when considering applications for teaching and substitute work. Where retired teachers return to teach on a full-time basis or on certain part-time contracts, their pension is abated. To further reduce the impact of retired teachers returning to teach, I have...
- Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: Teachers employed in primary, secondary and community/comprehensive schools are paid on payrolls operated by my Department. There were one hundred and eighty six retired primary teachers in receipt of a pension paid on the primary payroll of the 12th May 2011. One hundred and forty seven post-primary retired teachers in receipt of pension will be paid on the post primary payroll of the 19th...
- Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: Under my Department's student grant schemes, eligible candidates may receive funding provided they are attending an approved course at an approved institution as defined in the relevant scheme. I understand that the college referred to by the Deputy is a private college and is not on the list of approved institutions for the purpose of the student grant schemes. The Deputy will appreciate...
- Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: This Government's Programme for National Recovery 2011-2016 commits that administrative functions relating to maintenance and school building projects currently carried out by school principals will be devolved locally and that the devolution of an annual capital budget to schools will be piloted to allow schools to plan for capital projects. In order to expedite the process of delivering...
- Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: I wish to advise the Deputy 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. This now...
- Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The Rules and Programme for Secondary Schools require that all schools offer an approved syllabus in the following subjects: *Irish, English, Mathematics, *Science or a language other than Irish and English; or a subject of the Business Studies Group, *Civic, Social and Political Education and Social, Personal and Health Education (at junior cycle) * History and Geography in a secondary...
- Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The process of allocating teaching resources to schools for 2011/2012 and the arrangements for filling vacant or new teaching posts, including temporary posts, takes place in the context of the EU/IMF Programme of Support for Ireland and the Public Service Agreement 2010/2014. It is necessary for my Department to exercise additional control and reporting measures this year to ensure that the...
- Written Answers — School Provision: School Provision (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: The Forward Planning Section of my Department is finalising an analysis of all areas of the country in order to determine the level of additional provision which will be required at both primary and post-primary level up to 2017. Overall post-primary requirements in the South County Dublin area, including the case for the provision of a new second level all Irish language school, will be...
- Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (17 May 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 and I am pleased to confirm that the application made by the school in question was selected. A letter to this effect has issued to the school.
- Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (17 May 2011)
Ruairi Quinn: I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 183 together. I indicated in reply to Question 8954 of 21 April 2011 that Project Maths is being implemented on a phased basis over a 3 year period, over 5 strands of mathematics. It began in all schools in September 2010 in junior and senior cycle, building on the experiences of 24 schools which began the initiative in 2008. The syllabus for each of...