Results 13,421-13,440 of 19,621 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Budget 2022 has provided for an allocation of €18million for 2022 and €32million for 2023 to extend the DEIS programme to further schools with the highest levels of disadvantage. This represents an increase of over 20% in funding for the DEIS programme and will enable an expansion in 2022 of the programme to further schools. This package follows an extensive body of work...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The criteria for the award of Incremental Credit, for previous teaching experience, to recognised Primary teachers is outlined in Circular 0010/2001, and was agreed in the first instance, under the auspices of the Teacher Conciliation Council (TCC). This Council is comprised of representatives of the teacher unions, school management bodies, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that in 1995, a coordinated pension scheme came into effect for public servants, and those who were newly appointed as teachers were automatically included in the Class A Social Welfare Scheme. Prior to this, only part-time teachers and teachers who had opted out of the pension scheme, or were unable to become a member of the scheme, were Class A contributors....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department continues to engage with the education stakeholders on the issues raised about the current difficulty in accessing substitutes for teacher absences. As part of the COVID-19 supports provided to schools in 2020, additional funding of €41.2 million was allocated to provide primary schools with substitute staff. This funding allowed for the expansion of the Primary Schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 113,100 children, including over 14,500 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. The purpose of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Correspondence (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that officials from the Pension Unit of my Department have confirmed that a service history statement was issued to this teacher on 26th October last. Any further queries the teacher may have can be sent directly to pensions@education.gov.ie.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: A range of measures have been put in place to provide enhanced substitute cover in the context of Covid-19. These include a major expansion of the Primary Schools Substitute Teacher Supply Panels, which now employ almost 380 teachers and provide substitute cover to over 2,500 primary schools across the country. Further work is underway to ascertain if there are ways the operation of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2020/2021 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020. All children who are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Public Service Pay is dealt with through centralised engagement and collective bargaining between Government and the public service unions. The recent public service agreements allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants to commence which has led to many improvements since the measures implemented following the financial crisis. For example, the starting salary for a new...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, section 11, amended the Equal Status Act 2000 to remove, in the case of recognised primary schools, the provision that permitted such schools to use religion as a selection criterion in school admissions. Schools cannot therefore use religion as a selection criterion. However there is a provision to ensure that a child of a minority faith,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: In the context of the relevant recommendation, as the Deputy will be aware, schools are a key part of the local public life in their communities. There are numerous links between schools and their communities. Since boards of management were introduced in our schools, thousands of local volunteers have individually and collectively enriched and contributed to the management and operation of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not have a role in the provision of sheltered bus stops. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the development and implementation of public transport infrastructure including the provision of bus shelters.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department received an application under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school authority in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Educational Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: In considering applications for the use of school facilities or grounds for non-primary or non-post primary related uses, a category within which a pre-school would fall, regard has to be had to the current and future education requirements of the school already located on a site. My Department notes that the area in which the primary school in question is located is targeted for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I can confirm to the Deputy that an application under my Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme was received from the school in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: It is open to any school to offer Mandarin Chinese as an optional Leaving Certificate curricular subject. Schools are supported in this regard by Post Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI), which is charged under the Languages Connect strategy to provide support for foreign languages education in Ireland, predominantly at post-primary level. Any student who is studying Mandarin Chinese for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The permanent school building project for the school referred to by the Deputy has been assigned to my Department’s Design & Build delivery programme. This delivery programme uses a professional external Project Manager to progress the project through the relevant stages of architectural planning, tender and construction. An application for Planning Permission was...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that it has recently been confirmed, that the school referred to in this question, now has sufficient enrolments for the 2021/22 school year to provide for the appointment of an additional teaching post, for the teacher concerned. This teacher will now be included for payment at the next available pay date, of 4th November, 2021, with back payments, effective from...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The Pension Unit of my Department receives approximately 700 queries per week via email and telephone. In instances of general queries, a response issues to the Customer within two to three days. For more complex queries, an initial acknowledgement will issue to the teacher and the query is then forwarded to the relevant area within the Pension Unit for their direct response and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (2 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The approach to supporting schools to operate safely during Covid-19 has been to follow and implement public health advice. The Department of Education has an ongoing close working relationship with the Department of Health and the HSE throughout the period of the pandemic in the context of implementing important infection prevention control measures in schools to ensure that they can operate...