Results 13,801-13,820 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The school to which the Deputy refers was sanctioned a devolved grant under my Department's Additional Accommodation Scheme 2014 to provide 2 mainstream classrooms, 1 WC for assisted users and 3 resource rooms. In March, 2016, following a request for additional funding, my Department increased the grant allocation for the approved works. A further request for additional funding has recently...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 and 131 together. The Primary Staffing circular for the 2017/18 school year (circular 0013/2017) outlines that schools with a balance of Special Education Teaching (S.E.T.) hours additional to full posts now have a period until 30th March 2017 to enter into a cluster arrangement to achieve a full-time permanent post (25 hours) through sharing arrangements...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Establishment (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: For school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 geographic areas known as school planning areas which facilitates the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs. In identifying the requirement for additional school places in a school planning area, my Department uses a Geographical Information System to identify the areas under increased demographic...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Scheme (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan for 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy. In its initial application, the new identification model has identified that there are schools in disadvantaged areas, not previously included in DEIS, whose level of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department met with the school referred to in the context of an application received for a replacement school. The school was advised that, due to the need to prioritise available funding towards the provision of essential classroom accommodation to meet demographic demand, it would not be possible to progress a major project for the school at this time. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The school authority (Dublin & Dún Laoghaire Educational Training Board) was advised by my Department last week, following a review of the Stage 2A (Developed Design Stage) submission, that it may now proceed to Stage 2B (Detail Design Stage) which includes the seeking of all statutory approvals including Planning Permission, Fire Safety Certificate and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that nearly 50% of schools have applied for inclusion under the Summer Works 2016-17 Scheme (SWS) which reflects a very high demand. Details of successful school applicants in respect of Categories 1 and 2 under the SWS 2016-17 were announced in April last and are published on my Department’s website www.education.ie. Assessment of valid projects in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Applications (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that funding was approved in February last by my Department for the provision of a two classroom ASD Unit at the school referred to by the Deputy. The school authority has since contacted my Department seeking further funding to significantly revise the scope of the building project approved. My Department will be in contact with the school authority...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Management (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: It is widely accepted that the quality of school leadership is a key determinant of school effectiveness and the achievement of good learning outcomes. Indeed international research indicates that school leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning. Budget 2016 provided 250 posts to second level schools to enable Deputy Principals to be more fully...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Data (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department does not hold information on the basis of the geographic area that he has outlined.  As the Deputy is aware, my Department has approved new 16-classroom school buildings for two existing primary schools serving the Belmayne area, St. Francis of Assisi National School and Belmayne Educate Together National...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Courses Availability (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: There are no set number of places on these courses and it is a matter for individual institutions, taking a range of relevant factors into account, including demand from students.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Recognition (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: There are currently seven post-primary schools serving the Lucan school planning area.  Demographic data for this area and the surrounding school planning areas overall, indicates that demand for post-primary pupil places over the last number of years has increased and is projected to grow considerably over the next number of years to peak in 2025. This indicates that the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Amalgamation (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The information sought by the Deputy is not readily available and I will arrange for it to be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved funding for the provision of mainstream classrooms and resource rooms. The school authority has since contacted my Department seeking additional funding for an alternative building project. Further information requested by my Department has recently been supplied by the school and is currently being considered....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that the most appropriate funding stream for the works referred to is the Summer Works Scheme (SWS). The SWS is designed to allow post primary schools to carry out small and medium scale building works that will improve and upgrade existing school buildings. This scheme is additional to other capital funding schemes that are operated by my Department such as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The number of special classes has more than doubled, from 548 in 2011 to 1153 across the country now, of which 889 are special Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) classes. The number of special classes at post-primary level has doubled in the past five years and continues to rise rapidly. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the body responsible for organising and planning...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 to 149, inclusive, together. As the Deputy will be aware I have announced new plans aimed at providing more multi-denominational and non-denominational schools across the country, in line with the choices of families and school communities and the Programme for Government commitment in this area. This will involve the Education and Training Boards...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (22 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm that my Department is in receipt of an application for additional accommodation from the school to which the Deputy refers. The application is under consideration and my Department will be in contact with the school authority in the matter shortly.

Order of Business (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The position is that we have made provision in a circular that the provision for guidance counselling would be ring-fenced. It is in accordance with the approach to guidance counselling, which is a whole-school guidance counselling approach, that was adopted by Deputy Thomas Byrne's leader in the 2000s. At this stage, we have restored 50% of the provision. It will rise to 66% this coming...

Order of Business (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I thank Deputy Howlin for raising the issue. He is correct, this is very important legislation because it traces a future for the institutes of technology to form more effective technological universities that would drive regional performance. It is not that we have been idle. It is not just a matter of legislation and bringing in a set of amendments to the committee, it is a case of...