Results 14,321-14,340 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department recently contacted the school referred to. The school confirmed that it had offered junior infant places, prioritising children from within the schools catchment area. The school also confirmed that following receipt of responses from parents, the school will be in a position to determine the number of additional places that can then be offered....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Tuition Scheme Eligibility (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: My Department operates a home tuition grant scheme for children, aged from 6 to 16, who are temporarily without a school place and actively seeking a school place. If a child is over 16 years and has had three year post primary education, they are not eligible for this scheme. Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disadvantaged Status (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy. A key element of DEIS Plan 2017 Plan is the availability of a new identification process for the assessment of schools for inclusion in DEIS using centrally held CSO and DES data. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Properties (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Officials from my Department are currently considering a request received in respect of the property referred to by the Deputy and will be in contact with the relevant property owners as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Scheme (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together. The DEIS Rural Coordination Service was discontinued with effect from 31 August 2011. At that time there were 46 Rural Coordinator Posts at a cost of €2,714,000. Evidence strongly suggests that disadvantage associated with rural poverty does not have the same impact on educational achievement as is the case in the urban...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service Expenditure (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy may be aware my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides an educational psychological service to schools through the direct assignment of a NEPS psychologist and in some cases through by providing schools access to the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA) where schools can have an assessment carried out by a member of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Scheme (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: DEIS is my Department's main policy initiative to tackle educational disadvantage. The DEIS Plan 2017 sets out our vision for future intervention in the critical area of social inclusion in education policy A key element of DEIS Plan 2017 Plan is the availability of a new identification process for the assessment of schools for inclusion in DEIS using centrally held CSO and DES data. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Scheme (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that the new DEIS Plan provides for a verification process and any school wishing to seek verification of the information used to assess the level of disadvantage of its pupil cohort may submit an application for same to social_inclusion@education.gov.ie. A key element of DEIS Plan 2017 Plan is the availability of a new identification process for the assessment of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Scheme (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that in the 2016/17 school year the DEIS programme is available in 825 schools. On 13th February it was announced that a further 79 schools will be added to the DEIS programme from the 2017/18 school year. The list of DEIS schools for the 2016/17 school year is available on my Department’s website at the following link: . A breakdown of the total number of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service Data (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy may be aware my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides an educational psychological service to schools through the direct assignment of a NEPS psychologist and in some cases through by providing schools access to the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA) where schools can have an assessment carried out by a member of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that all primary and post primary schools in the country, including DEIS schools, are automatically provided with an annual grant towards the cost of schoolbooks. The grant is paid to schools based on their total pupil enrolment. Whereas non-DEIS primary schools receive a grant of €11 per pupil, DEIS primary schools receive a grant of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: EU Funding (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: My recent follow-up reply to your PQ No. 124 of 2 February 2017 provided details of the recipients of INTERREG funding within our education system. There are no other instances where it was necessary to have a partnership between an institution here and in Northern Ireland in order to receive EU funding under this Department. In reply to another recent PQ you submitted (ref: 5015/17) I...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Funding (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: In Budget 2017 I secured, for the first time in nine years, additional funding for the sector of €36.5 million for 2017. This includes an allocation of €14 million towards demographics increases in the sector. €160 million additional funding overall over the next three years has also been agreed. As the Deputy will be aware, the Report of the Expert...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Staff Data (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The details sought by the Deputy are not readily available in my Department. I will arrange for the information to be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The average rates of capitation per primary and post primary pupil over the past ten years are as follows: Primary - €180 Post primary - €316 Funding for post-primary schools in the ETB and Community and Comprehensive sectors operate on a budget basis. Schools are notified about capitation rates through circulars issued by my Department. The most recent circulars (Circular...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Scheme (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Under the DEIS Plan 2017 and the previous DEIS programme, the allocation of an administrative principal is on a lower enrolment and staffing figures that apply in primary schools generally. All primary schools are allocated an administrative principal on the basis of an enrolment of 177 pupil. DEIS Band 1 schools are allocated an administrative principal based on an enrolment of 116 and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: Budget 2017 provides for the commencement of the restoration of middle management posts to lift the rigidity of the longstanding moratorium on these posts in both the primary and post-primary sector. A Department circular will issue shortly in relation to these new arrangements. The estimated cost of 100 Assistant Principal posts is €850,000 per annum.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Schemes (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) is a third-level admissions scheme for students with a disability offering places on reduced points basis to school leavers with disabilities who are under 23. HEAR is a college and university admissions scheme offering places on reduced points and extra college support to school leavers from socio-economically disadvantages backgrounds. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Modern Language Teaching (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: The Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative (MLPSI) was introduced in September 1998. It involved the introduction of Italian, Spanish, German and French for 5th and 6th classes. The MLPSI was a pilot scheme across 550 schools with an annual budget of approximately €2.5 million. The decision to end the MLPSI was taken in the context of a very challenging budgetary...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Modern Language Teaching (23 Feb 2017)

Richard Bruton: I am committed to further developing our provision for languages in post-primary education. In 2015 the Framework for Junior Cycle was published and new subject specifications are being introduced on a phased basis. A new specification for Modern Languages will be introduced from September 2017. This will involve French, German, Spanish and Italian. In addition, Junior Cycle...