Results 13,501-13,520 of 20,049 for speaker:Norma Foley

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, has raised it with me on an ongoing basis as well. I recognise the considerable challenge experienced by all of those impacted by mica. I have met families and representative groups to discuss the issue and I want to confirm that my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I want to make it clear that I do not for one minute underestimate the personal difficulties of any family, individual, young person or child experiencing mica defects in their homes. As I have outlined, there are specific and strong supports available within our school system. Equally, additional measures have been put in place this year. For example, for the first time almost 4,000 hours...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I do not in any way take from the seriousness of the situation. There has been a request for counselling services and that is a matter for the Department of Health. It has responsibility for the provision of counselling services, and through the HSE it provides primary care psychology and CAMHS services to children and young people with mental health needs. On the additional supports that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: State Examinations (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy may be aware, the NCCA carried out a review of the senior cycle between 2016 and 2020, leading to the advisory report the Deputy has referenced. The review covered a number of areas, including the question of the overall identity and purposes of senior cycle education; how to establish continuity and progression with the new junior cycle; and the range of learning programmes...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Staff (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: To clarify with regard to substitution, a whole myriad of measures are being made available to schools, not one single measure. In terms of special education specifically, it is very important that children who need to avail of particular supports because they have particular special educational challenges should receive that support at the time they are scheduled to receive it. I do not...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Tests (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I appreciate the question. The approach to supporting schools to operate safely during Covid-19 has been to follow and implement public health advice. A range of measures have been implemented across schools, including social distancing, enhanced cleaning and, as the Deputy will be aware, mask wearing in some settings for students and in all settings for staff. As of 27 September 2021,...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Tests (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. Again, I appreciate the very positive approach he takes and the generosity with which he shares his experience. In terms of our schools as they exist, comparable to other schools, there are very significant infection prevention and control measures in our schools, and I would venture to say they are not comparable to the lack of them in other jurisdictions. On...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Tests (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. In terms of antigen testing, obviously, it is a public health measure and it is being led by the HSE, but there is a significant body of work under way whereby guidelines will now be made available to school principals, school staff and parents, and that will all be communicated in advance of Monday, 29 November. How correctly to utilise and use antigen testing will...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Educational Reform (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I appreciate the point the Deputy made. Covid has focused our lens even more closely on how the leaving certificate and senior cycle operates. To be fair, the entire review involves all of the senior cycle, and, therefore, includes the leaving certificate applied, the leaving certificate established and the leaving certificate vocational programme. We are also referring to the transition...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Educational Reform (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I appreciate the points the Deputy has made and the urgency with which he views the question. The review was four years in the making and involves a considerable body of work. There was the widest consultation, rightly, with all the partners in education – parents, teachers, wider society, obviously students as well, and also the views and experiences of experts from other...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Staff (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I am the first to acknowledge that these have been difficult and challenging times, not just currently but throughout the pandemic, for all school leaders and all school communities. There has been an extraordinary generosity by school leaders and school communities to do what needs to be done in the delivery of education and to pivot in other directions when it was not possible to maintain...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Staff (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I want to be very clear. No single measure is sufficient of itself to meet the challenges that are particularly acute in some areas. I have referenced the fact that those who are on secondment, in particular those who are on secondment to the professional development service for teachers, PDST, will be released and made available. That is an important measure. It is important to say also...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Ensuring schools can operate safely has been a key priority for me as Minister for Education. My Department has always been guided by public health advice on appropriate Covid-19 infection prevention and control measures in our schools. These measures protect students, their parents and school staff and are effective. Public health advice is that the two most important actions to prevent...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: At the outset I want to be very clear that we have followed public health advice and guidance in our schools. It is the expert view of public health officials that our schools are places of low transmission, largely because of the very significant and substantial infection prevention and control measures that are in place in schools. Specifically on the points made by the Deputy on CO2...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Again, to reiterate, at the risk of repeating myself, we follow best practice public health advice in our schools. Indeed, that is what we have done in wider society also. The Deputy is aware it is the expert judgment of the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, that there is now a role for antigen testing in our schools and the HSE has been charged with the responsibility of rolling that out. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Educational Reform (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I appreciate the question and the sincerity with which it is put. The Deputy may be aware that, between 2016 and 2020, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, undertook an extensive review of senior cycle programmes and vocational pathways. The NCCA’s advisory report on the senior cycle has been submitted to my Department for consideration and will be published once...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department is aware of increasing pressures and demand for additional post-primary school places in a number of school planning areas including school planning areas in Malahide and Portmarnock, County Dublin. Where enrolment pressures arise, it may not be as a result of lack of accommodation but may be driven by the following factors: -...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The Department of Education is guided by Public Health as to the mitigation measures needed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our schools. The aim of all of the Covid-19 infection prevention and control measures that have been put in place for schools is to support schools to operate safely and prevent the introduction of Covid-19 and also the onward of transmission of Covid-19 among the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: On 30 June 2021, I announced that adjustments would be made to the 2022 Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle examinations. As with previous years, adjustments were developed in conjunction with the Leaving Certificate Exams Advisory Group. This Group includes representation from students, parents, teachers and schools. Details of these adjustments were issued to schools on 19 August 2021 to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (23 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Agricultural Science forms an important element of the science curriculum at Leaving Certificate level. The new specification was introduced to schools in 2019 and was developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) through a Subject Development Group. Members of the Irish Agricultural Science Teachers Association (IASTA) were represented on the NCCA’s Subject...