Results 13,781-13,800 of 20,049 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (9 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: As the Deputy will be aware, a major building project to construct permanent accommodation for the school in question is included in the Department’s school building programme. When constructed, the new school will provide accommodation for 1,000 pupils and will also include a special education needs base. The building project is currently at Stage 3 of the architectural planning...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level. My Department's guidance to schools is that the number of pupils in any class is kept as low as possible taking all relevant contextual factors into account, for example, classroom accommodation, fluctuating enrolment etc. Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (9 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department has in place detailed design guidelines for Primary & Post Primary School Accommodation. These guidelines, are available on my Department's web-site at www.gov.ie/en/publication/7e515-technical-guidance-documents . The guidelines provide for the inclusion of both WCs and storage facilities in all new classrooms in primary schools in so far as possible and bearing in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department has in place detailed design guidelines for Primary & Post Primary School Specialist Accommodation for Pupils with Special Educational Needs. These guidelines, are available on my Department's website at www.gov.ie/en/publication/7e515-technical-guidance-documents . The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has a statutory function to plan and co-ordinate...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (9 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department has always been guided by public health advice in relation to appropriate Covid-19 infection prevention and control measures in place in schools. These measures protect students, their parents and school staff and are very effective. Each school was provided with an updated COVID-19 Response Plan in advance of the return to school. Significant additional resources of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to confirm to the Deputy that there are 9 post primary schools in the Drumcondra/Marino school catchment area. The Department records data as reported by schools on an annual basis in respect of their available accommodation and enrolment. The Department also holds records in respect of completed or planned Department-funded school building projects and historic enrolment data....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The planned establishment of a new post-primary school in 2022 to serve the Drumcondra_Marino_Dublin 1 school planning area was announced in 2018 as a result of a countrywide demographic exercise. A further exercise has since been conducted on the necessity for the establishment of a number of planned new schools, including the school to serve this school planning area, taking into account...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: I wish to confirm to the Deputy that there are 9 post primary schools in the Drumcondra/Marino school catchment area. 4 of these are mixed schools, 3 whose ethos is Inter Denominational and 1 whose ethos is Catholic 3 are boys schools whose ethos is Catholic 2 are girls schools whose ethos is Catholic The Department records data as reported by schools on an annual basis in respect of their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: For the academic year 2019-20, there were 559 sixth class primary pupils in the school planning area of Drumcondra_Marino_Dublin 1. Of these, 262 left the school planning area to attend post-primary in neighbouring school planning areas for the 2020-21 academic year. The remaining 297 pupils stayed in the school planning area to attend first year of post-primary. An additional 350 pupils...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas. My Department uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify where the pressure for school places across the country will arise. The GIS uses data from a range of sources, including the Central Statistics Office and also, Ordnance Survey...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: Under Article 44 of the Constitution and in accordance with Section 30 of the Education Act, 1998, parents have a right to have their children opt out of religious instruction classes if they so wish. It is expected that this right will be upheld by schools on foot of a parental request. Under the provisions of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, where schools provide...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Cross-Border Co-operation (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The Governments shared Island Fund as part of the reviewed National Development Plan includes €500 million in capital funding between 2021 and 2025 for North/South investments. Among its investment priorities is a more all-island Education connections including through continued investment in the Middletown centre, and seeking other opportunities to share experience and resources in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Cross-Border Co-operation (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The following are the current Cross-Border initiatives that the Department of Education has funded in 2021. It is likely that allocations for these Cross-Border initiatives will remain at these levels for 2022 and 2023. 2021 Funding € Peace IV Programme (Ireland/ Northern Ireland) Shared Education €650,403.68 Maths...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (4 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The organisation, which the Deputy refers to, received €137,000 in funding from my Department in 2020. As part of the supporting documentation to comply with the DPER Circular 13/2014 we requested and are still awaiting a Certificate of Assurance from the organisation for the funding which they received in 2020. A Certificate of Assurance gives written assurances from recipients of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (3 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: A revised ex gratia scheme to implement the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgement relating to childhood sexual abuse in day schools is now open for applications. The Scheme, which was developed in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, provides for ex gratia payments to be made to those who qualify to apply for the Scheme and who satisfy the criteria as set out in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Reopening (3 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: The former school referred to by the Deputy is not in my ownership and ultimately it is a matter for the owner of the property to decide how it will be used. My Department has a Charging Lease in place in respect of this property as a means of securing the public funds that were invested by my Department in this school building over the years. My Department have received an application from...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (3 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: A revised ex gratia scheme to implement the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgement relating to childhood sexual abuse in day schools is now open for applications. The Scheme provides for the payment of €84,000 to applicants and up to €4,000 in legal costs in respect of the application. The amount of legal costs to be paid is agreed between the solicitor and the Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (3 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: There are two routes recognised by the Teaching Council to become a primary teacher: - A four-year undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) programme. - A two-year post-graduate Professional Master of Education (PME) programme. The undergraduate/B. Ed. model offers students who are beginning their tertiary education, and wish to pursue a career in teaching, an opportunity to acquire a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (3 Nov 2021)

Norma Foley: There are 5 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) providing primary Initial Teacher Education in Ireland, four State-funded and one private provider. Each of the State-funded providers has both concurrent (undergraduate) and consecutive (postgraduate) programmes: - DCU Institute of Education. - Marino Institute of Education. - Maynooth University (Froebel Department of Primary and Early...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (3 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. The purpose of my...