Results 13,821-13,840 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Order of Business (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: In terms of the timeline I look forward to advancing the Bill this year. I hope it will come to the House as soon as possible. I would love to bring the Bill to the House tomorrow but it is more important that we get it right than we get it fast.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (21 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 disadvantage is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 241, 242 and 388 together. Firstly, I should point out that the student maintenance grant is a contribution towards the living costs of a student. It is not intended to cover the full costs of attending college. The student grant scheme does however, provide for different levels of maintenance support, depending on means. Grants are also provided at...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Education Review (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that DES Circular 0013/2017 for primary schools and 0014/2017 for post primary schools have been published. These Circulars set out the details of the new model for allocating special education teachers to schools. The revised allocation process replaces the generalised allocation process at primary and post primary school level for learning support and high...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 245 together. The major building project to which the Deputy refers was authorised to progress to Stage 2b (Detailed design) in December 2014. The project is now close to completing stage 2(b). In general, it would be expected that a project would progress through stage 2(b) in about 7 to 12 months although some can take longer depending on the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Council of Ireland (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy may be aware, the Teaching Council is the independent body with statutory authority under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 for the procedures and criteria for the probation of teachers, including periods of probation which all teachers must successfully complete to achieve full registration. My Department does not get involved in individual cases. Accordingly, the person...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that this Government is committed to ensuring that all children with Special Educational Needs, including those with autism, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network. Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Council of Ireland (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy is aware that the Teaching Council were asked to examine and advise on entry requirements to programmes of initial teacher education, including the Gaeltacht entry scheme to the Bachelor of Education. The existing Gaeltacht entry scheme allows for the reservation of up to 10% of places in the colleges of education are reserved for Gaeltacht applicants. To qualify as a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I can inform the Deputy that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Under this scheme schools can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme is one of a number of options made available by my Department for Senior Cycle students which schools can choose from, based on the education needs and interests of their students.   The LCA is a two-year programme designed for those students who do not wish to proceed directly to higher education or for those whose needs,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware Caranua is an independent statutory body and I have no role in relation to its day to day operations. I have therefore asked my officials to forward your question to the Chief Executive of Caranua with the request that a direct response issue to you in the matter.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE), which is an independent statutory agency, is responsible, through its network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating special educational needs supports to schools, including S support. The NCSE allocates S support in accordance with the criteria set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014, which is available on my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The closing date for the receipt of submissions in regard to the draft Terms of Reference of the proposed review of eligibility for Caranua was 8 March last. A number of submissions have been received and these are being considered at present. Once that process has been completed the Terms of Reference will be finalised and the arrangements will then be put in place to carry out the review.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that building projects for the schools in question are included in my Department's 6 Year Construction Programme (2019/21). A suitable site has been identified for both projects and the acquisition process is currently underway.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that building projects for each of the schools referred to are included in my Department's 6 - Year Construction Programme (2016-2021).  Preparatory work has been initiated to advance both projects and my Department will continue to liaise directly with the school authorities concerned in the context of progressing the projects through the architectural...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that a building project for the school in question is included in my Department's 6 Year Construction Programme (2019/21). The school will be aware that preparatory work has been initiated to advance this project and my Department will continue to liaise directly with the school authorities concerned in the context of progressing the project through the architectural...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Staff (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The school to which the Deputy refers is one of thirty such schools which were identified under the new assessment methodology as having a sufficient level of disadvantage to raise it from Urban Band 2 to Band 1 status under the DEIS Plan 2017. The staffing schedule for the 2017/2018 school year for all primary schools, which includes details in relation to the allocations under DEIS, was...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Parental Leave (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: Parental leave is a period of unpaid leave available to teachers for the purpose of the care of children. It is provided for under the Parental Leave Acts 1998 and 2006 and the European Union (Parental Leave) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 81 of 2013). The provisions of the scheme as it applies to teachers are outlined in Chapter 6 of Terms and Conditions of Employment for Registered Teachers...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Government is committed to building upon our provision of STEM in primary, post-primary and third level education in order to ensure that we have the graduates to fulfil the existing and growing needs in STEM. Innovation 2020 - the Government’s five-year strategy on research and development, science and technology, has the goal of making Ireland a Global Innovation Leader, and by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (21 Mar 2017)

Richard Bruton: This Government is committed to ensuring that all children with Special Educational Needs, including those with autism, can have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in school settings through the primary and post primary school network. Such placements facilitate access to individualised education programmes which may draw from a range of appropriate educational...