Results 1,481-1,500 of 6,186 for speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The Minister might have seen that Sinn Féin launched a document in recent days outlining our belief that schools have potential to be real leaders in challenging climate change. Some of it is to do with the curriculum and some to do with energy efficiency in schools. It is a real shame that very few of the 4,000 primary and post-primary schools have solar panels because the regulations...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I will take this opportunity to go to the parish pump. If we are recruiting SENOs, I wish to state that there is an absence of them in my area. The Minister of State might take note of that. There is a shared objective, namely, that we do not have a scramble every year. There are almost 1 million children in our 4,000 schools and there is easily the capacity to accommodate these...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am aware of the number of schools in Cork with places. As is the case everywhere else, there is a significant discrepancy between what is available in primary and post-primary schools. One of the biggest challenges we need to address is the number of places in post-primary education. One of the most frustrating issues to deal with is people who are looking for places in post-primary...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I share the Minister's sense of the value of the measure. It is a shame that it was not extended to post-primary level, where the books are more expensive, but we will have that debate another day. The question I still have concerns how the arrangement will work. It does not seem there is any clear sense of that. It is two months since the budget. I presume this was discussed within...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am not seeking to get into that.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I want to see this succeed but it all has the ring of "It will be all right on the night." The Minister refers to the education partners but she has not challenged me on, or disputed, the fact that they do not include the publishers or booksellers. I am open to being challenged on this. It does not seem there have been any discussions. The Minister's reference to autonomy indicates...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: It is more than just the Department of Education.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Who the education partners are is very clear.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Of course, but-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Excuse me. That was probably out of order. I accept that.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 60. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the preparations being undertaken by her Department and the National Council for Special Education for admissions to special schools and special classes in September 2023; if it has forecasted the number of places that will be required; and if all parties are now beginning to analyse where it may be necessary to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Bearing in mind the discussion on special education on RTÉ, where we need to get to with special schools and special classes is not where we were in the past couple of years, which involved panic in April and May over where children would go. I have already been contacted by parents about September 2023, and some were worried about September 2024. We need to ensure the forecasting is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Staff (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 56. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the growing difficulties regarding shortages of teachers at post-primary and primary schools and the impact that it is having on schools; and the action that she intends to take to address this. [58460/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Staff (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I blame the national broadcaster for my delay and I apologise for that. The Minister will be familiar with the survey that the Irish Primary Principals' Network, IPPN, published last week during its conference. It found that some 52% of school principals in County Kildare did not have their full quota, 65% in County Dublin and 46% in County Wicklow. Similar problems exist at post-primary....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Staff (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: Many of those measures are for the longer term. The Minister will tell me it is the job of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage's, which it is but some of this problem to the fact that teachers cannot afford to rent or get a mortgage in or around Dublin, Cork or Galway, and a whole-of-government approach is required. Regarding what the Department of Education and the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Staff (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: The Minister answered several other questions but she did not answer the questions I asked regarding additional positions. I do not believe that is necessarily what will resolve it at primary level but I am talking particularly about post-primary level where some teachers work on a part-time basis and others do not have a permanent contract. If they can be offered a permanent or full-time...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 58. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the actions that have been taken to further the budgetary commitment to providing free schoolbooks at primary level; if she has engaged with the relevant stakeholders since this announcement; and if she will outline the model that will be put in place. [58461/22]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: School Textbooks (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: I am encouraged by the commitment to free schoolbooks. Myself and Sinn Féin have raised this issue for several years at budget time. I regularly make the point that we are 70 years behind the North in that. To get that delivered is not just a case of announcing it. We need to know what the model will be, where suppliers, publishers and so on fit in, and how schools will manage it....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 95. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress that has been made on ensuring that all children who require school transport have access to it; and if she will provide an update on the progress made in ensuring that those with concessionary passes from previous years are being accommodated 2022. [58468/22]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (24 Nov 2022)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: 129. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the commitment to a comprehensive Irish language strategy from early years, through school to third level; and the actions that she has taken in furtherance of this (details supplied). [58467/22]