Results 13,661-13,680 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd
- Written Answers — FÁS Training Programmes: FÁS Training Programmes (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Question 118: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of private training contractors currently engaged by FÃS compared to 2008 and 2009 figures [41207/10]
- Written Answers — FÁS Training Programmes: FÁS Training Programmes (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Question 126: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if participants on FÃS training courses are provided with lunchtime refreshments free of charge by the training agency; if she will provide details of same; the amount that has been spent on refreshments in this regard during each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41424/10]
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Question 142: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the annual budget for FETAC for each of the past four years, and for each of those four years to provide the following information: the number of staff employed and the type of work in which they are engaged including their Civil Service grade; the number of external examiners and authenticators contracted by FETAC for...
- School Books (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I welcome the fact she will, as I understand it from her response, look at the www.schoolbookexchange.ie website, which was a service used by 17,000 people in the past year and is, I understand, a not for profit organisation. Will the Minister of State analyse how the Department could assist with the running costs of this operation? Given modern...
- School Books (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Was the Minister of State making a profit?
- FÁS Training Programmes (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: I am not happy with the Minister of State's reply. It is more than one year since the first investigation was conducted into this matter and a number of audits have been carried out since then. Was the request to treat the draft findings as confidential made by the Department or the European Commission? I cannot understand why they are being kept secret because there is no issue if the sum...
- Third Level Charges (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Question 52: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills her views on the fact that a proposed increase in the student registration fee will restrict participation levels at third level; when she plans to publish the Colin Hunt report on the future of the third level sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41601/10]
- Third Level Charges (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Is it not the case that the Minister has been in possession of the Hunt report for at least two months, if not longer? Is it not also the case that issues relating to the report and the reform of third level education have been published in The Irish Times in particular? It is a disgrace that Members are not in a position to give their full consideration to this issue. In light of what the...
- Third Level Charges (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: It is unfair to the country.
- Third Level Charges (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: The facts are that the document has been leaked by somebody who is very close to it, either in the Tánaiste's Department or the Hunt commission because I have been briefed on its alleged contents by people up and down the country. The Tánaiste is trying to change public opinion without telling us what the facts are. The McCarthy report identified â¬271 million of potential cuts which...
- Third Level Charges (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: I have not seen the report.
- Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Question 54: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the details regarding the proposed future reorganisation of FÃS; if her Department has held discussions with FÃS regarding the proposed changes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41602/10]
- Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. Will she identify the number of civil servants at senior level or, if she knows, principal officer level, who have now been moved in to FÃS to deal with the issues there? I suppose the key question we on this side of the House all want answered is, has the leopard changed its spots. Have practices changed utterly in FÃS? One of the issues that arose...
- Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: They have not been met.
- Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: The key question I asked relates to the credibility of the new structures. I repeat that I believe the leopard has not changed its spots, that since the investigations took place participants who were to re-sit examinations did not turn up and the certification is issuing to them, and that is not acceptable. That is at the core of all of this. It is a year since there was an EU audit of...
- Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: It is called fiddling examination results.
- Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: No, the monitoring of that.
- Departmental Agencies (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Real and live right now, not historical.
- Departmental Expenditure (9 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: The Minister is going to the bottom of the barrel talking about the weather.
- Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (4 Nov 2010)
Fergus O'Dowd: Question 94: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills when the annual report of FÃS was due; the reason for the delay; when it will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40799/10]