Results 14,041-14,060 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: ——the level of micro-management at central level was limiting the amount of progress that could be made. This meant that an enormous number of schools were badly in need of modernisation. This year, not only are we spending five times what was provided for school buildings in 1997, the innovations that have been made in the design and delivery processes for schools building projects are...

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I would also like to highlight specifically——

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: ——the introduction of the permanent accommodation scheme since the Opposition motion——

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: ——refers to prefabs.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: In recent years my Department has moved away from the traditional culture of purchasing prefabs for the provision of additional accommodation in schools.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Instead, where possible, grants are provided to schools under my Department's permanent accommodation scheme which enables schools deliver a permanent solution to their accommodation requirements. More than 140 schools are being dealt with in this way. It is impossible to eradicate the need for prefabs, as schools often come to my Department with only a few months notice of the need for extra...

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: We also do our best to enable new schools in developing areas to open in high quality permanent accommodation from the start. The new primary school in Griffeen Valley in Dublin was provided in this way, as will the new school in Adamstown. Another development which has made a major positive difference in developing areas has been the abolition of the local contribution to the building costs...

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Some local authorities are extremely good about meeting their responsibilities. However, others do not designate sites for schools and do not provide from them when planning for housing. Members of local authorities who actively oppose the zoning of areas which might be suitable for schools have caused further difficulty in areas.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: A further innovation in recent years has been the introduction of a new model for public private partnerships in school provision. In parallel to the conventional approach on the delivery of major capital works in schools, my Department procured five post-primary schools through the PPP arrangements envisaged in the national development plan. Similar to design and build contracts, the main...

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: ——students come. Ready-made families move out of the city or move to the periphery of the city, for example to Kildare or Meath. It is not only young new couples who might seek a school in five years' time. The requirement for provision is also immediate.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: It has also been the case, as Deputies will recognise, with the number of international families who have come to the county with their children——

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: A number of them have gone to live together in various areas around the city and have put pressure for the provision of places, which is why——

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: ——even though we have a tried and tested system of recognising new schools, it was necessary to bypass that system to speed up the recognition of a school for September. In addition, under the provisions of the strategic development zones, it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and that the schools must be developed commensurate with housing and other...

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Instead, we decided to put those resources where they were badly needed, in special education, areas of disadvantage and language support and ensure those pupils had the teachers to support them. I am proud of the choice we made in this regard and I challenge any Member to state in good conscience he or she would not have prioritised those same people and would have done it differently. In...

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: ——to reduce the staffing schedule by a point in each of the next two school years.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: We did not promise that 5,000 of the 25,000 teachers would deal with special needs education.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: We did not promise that 800 teachers would teach English as a foreign language.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Motion. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: We did not promise we would target disadvantage.

Institutes of Technology Bill 2006: Order for Second Stage. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Institutes of Technology Bill 2006: Second Stage. (16 May 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am delighted to bring the Bill to the House. It is a highly significant development for the future of Ireland's education system, the higher education system in particular. It is an explicit recognition of the importance and value of the institutes of technology to our citizens and to our overall education system. The Bill is introduced at...