Results 14,741-14,760 of 19,632 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Reform (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department is acutely aware of the disruption caused to students as a result of school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. From 11 January 2021, all students, including students currently in fifth year and who are due to sit the Leaving Certificate examinations in 2022, engaged in a programme of remote learning with their schools. Students in fifth year were prioritised for a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The permanent school building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is being delivered under my Department’s Design & Build programme. The new school building project is in architectural planning stage. A pre-planning meeting with the local authority has taken place and developed design work is ongoing. Representatives of the school and Patron body will be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan. This project is one of the school building projects on my Department’s traditional build programme. The project consists of construction of a 24 classroom Senior School plus demolition of the existing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pay (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The public service agreements have allowed a programme of pay restoration for public servants to start. The starting salary for a new entrant teacher in 2012 was €30,702 and as a result of the programme of pay restoration the starting salary of a teacher is now €37,692. This will increase to €38,692 by October 2022 under the current pay agreement, Building Momentum. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved for delivery to Donegal Education and Training Board (DETB). I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the project was recently approved to tender stage; DETB will now commence the process of tendering for a contractor. Please be assured that DETB is engaging directly with the school authority to keep it informed of progress.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is included in my Department’s Construction Programme which is being delivered under the National Development Plan. This project is one of the school building projects on my Department’s traditional build programme, and is currently at tender stage. Tenders have recently been returned from a number of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: My Department's travel and subsistence expenditure for 2020 and 2021 is set out in the table below. 2020 (€'000) 2021 January to May (€'000) Travel & Subsistence (Home & Foreign) €657 €217 Due to the establishment of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Innovation,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Reviews (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: Since 2017, the Spending Review has become a key platform for evaluative analysis across the Civil Service. While Value for Money and Policy Reviews continue to be produced across a number of Departments, some of this work is now completed as part of the Spending Review which is led by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. More details on the process can be found here:...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 732, 733 and 734 together. My Department has always been guided by public health advice in relation to the infection prevention and control measure appropriate for schools. At present it is a requirement for face coverings to be worn by teachers and staff in primary schools when a physical distance of two meters from other staff or children cannot be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015, the Teaching Council is the body with statutory authority and responsibility for the registration of teachers. Section 7 of the Teaching Council Act provides for the Council to establish procedures in relation to the induction of teachers into the teaching profession. The Council defines a “newly qualified teacher” or...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: In relation to the schools to which the Deputy refers I can confirm that my Department Officials have been engaging with the relevant school authorities to ensure that the shared space in their interim accommodation location meets the needs of all stakeholders on the site and I can confirm that there will still be sufficient open space for all.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The Summer Works Scheme that launched in 2019 was a multi-annual scheme and applications are held in the system for consideration under future rounds of the scheme. There are 10 categories in total and to date 3 of those categories have been assessed. I wish to advise that commensurate with the level of funding available for the SWS in 2021, applications will be assessed on a top down...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Staff (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The suggested living wage at €12.30 per hour, based on a 37 hour standard net working week, equates to an annual salary of €23,747. 1 member of staff in my Department is currently earning just below this annual salary amount but are on a salary scale that progresses to the suggested living wage and above through incremental progression. There are no staff currently employed...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: On 17 February, I confirmed that Leaving Certificate 2021 examinations would proceed, guided by public health advice, and that students will also have the alternative option of applying for grades accredited by the State Examinations Commission (SEC), to be known as SEC-Accredited Grades. This decision was taken by government to ensure for every candidate in 2021, a method to assess...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001-2015 the Teaching Council is the body with statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland including the registration of teachers in the State. The Teaching Council registers teachers in line with the requirements set out in the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and the Teaching Council (Registration)...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: Funding to build digital infrastructure, including purchase of devices is provided directly to schools as schools are best placed to determine the most appropriate solution to adopt in terms of supporting the learning needs of their students based on school's own context and circumstances, and in accordance with their Digital Learning Plan. Decisions regarding the use and deployment of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: Please find below the requested information. The data is for the 2019-20 academic year the most recent year we have data available for. We will update the table as soon as the final enrolment data for 2020-2021 is published, end of June 2021. The figures are based on mainstream classes in mainstream schools and are collated from the relevant Class Size tables published on the DES website and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 748 to 751, inclusive, together. Teachers are currently allocated to post primary schools at a ratio of 19:1 in the free education system and 23:1 to schools in the fee charging sector. Each 1 point adjustment to the pupil teacher ratio at post primary level is estimated to cost in the region of €56.5m per annum. At primary level, the annual...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Costs (15 Jun 2021)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 752, 761 and 763 together. My Department has in place detailed design guidelines for primary and post-primary schools. These guidelines, which are available on my Department's web-site, currently provide for a standard range of servery and eating facilities in the design of new and refurbished primary and post primary schools. In primary schools, a servery of...