Results 1,481-1,500 of 16,057 for speaker:Mary Coughlan

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The school referred to by the Deputy was allocated a devolved grant in June 2009 to replace two prefab classrooms and a resource room. The grant was increased in November 2009 to allow for the provision of two additional mainstream classrooms. The school management authorities were advised that they could utilise this grant to purchase prefab accommodation or to build a permanent structure....

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The Office of Public Works (OPW) has been requested to identify a suitable site for the school referred to by the Deputy. On foot of a recommendation from the OPW, my officials will consider how best to progress the acquisition of a suitable site. Once a suitable site is acquired, the proposed building project for the school will be considered in the context of the capital budget available...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The Forward Planning Section of my Department has carried out a study of the country to identify the areas where, due to demographic changes, there may be a requirement for significant additional school provision at both primary and post-primary levels over the coming years. This study has been conducted using data from the Central Statistics Office, the General Register Office and the...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The school in question has been allocated a grant for Fire Safety and Central Heating Upgrade under the Emergency Works Grant. The Department is satisfied that the grant provided is sufficient to address the urgent requirements at the school. It is open to the School Authority to apply under the next round of Summer Works Grants for funding to undertake further works to the school.

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers recently wrote to my Department seeking a devolved grant to provide additional accommodation at the school as an alternative to their application for major capital funding. The application is currently being considered by officials in my Department in the context of the Department's multi-annual School Building and Modernisation...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: My Department is aware of the difficulties that have arisen between the school in question, the building contractor and the Consultant Architect that has resulted in delaying the satisfactory conclusion of this project. The bulk of the funding due for payment under the terms of the contract between the school and the contractor for this project has issued to the school on foot of appropriate...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: An application for funding under Emergency Works was submitted by the school in question. However, following an assessment of the application and in light of the nature of the works involved it is not possible to provide funding at this time. It is open to the school authority to submit an application for these works under the next round of the Summer Works Scheme.

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The school in question has been allocated grant aid for Fire Safety and Central Heating Upgrade under the Emergency Works Grant. The Department is satisfied that this grant is sufficient to address the urgent requirements at the school. It is open to the School Authority to apply under the next round of Summer Works Grants for grant aid towards works to the school.

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: It is understood that the Deputy is referring to the change in the residency requirement in student grant schemes for the 2010/11 academic year, which was increased from one year to three out of the past five years for the student. This amendment is in line with provisions already outlined in the Student Support Bill. The main purpose of the change is to ensure that persons applying for...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I wish to advise the Deputy that County Cork Vocational Education Committee signed contracts earlier this year for the purchase of a site to provide for an educational campus facility to cater for, among other things, the re-location of the Gaelscoil referred to by the Deputy. My Department was not a party to the contract negotiations or to any special conditions agreed. The progression of...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The school to which the Deputy refers has applied to my Department for capital funding for an extension. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects and assigned a Band 1 rating. There are four band ratings under the prioritisation criteria, each of which describes the extent of accommodation required and the...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant assessing authority, i.e. the applicant's local authority or VEC. An applicant may appeal the decision to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where the assessing authority decides to reject the appeal, the applicant may appeal this decision to my Department by submitting an appeal form...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant assessing authority, i.e. the applicant's local authority or VEC. An applicant may appeal the decision to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where the assessing authority decides to reject the appeal, the applicant may appeal this decision to my Department by submitting an appeal form...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: As the Deputy will be aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs), for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs. The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. I have...

Written Answers — Third Level Courses: Third Level Courses (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: All full-time approved higher education undergraduate programmes covered by the free fees scheme are open to unemployed people. All such people undertaking these programmes may be eligible to participate in the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) Scheme administered by the Department of Social Protection or be eligible for support under this Department's Student Grant Scheme. Further...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: As part of the expansion of the Permanent Accommodation Scheme 2007, a grant was allocated to the school in question to enable the management authority provide 3 additional mainstream classrooms. As this is a devolved scheme it is a matter for the school authority to manage the project. I understand that some difficulties arose between the school authority, the design team and the...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The school in question has been allocated grant aid for Fire Safety and Central Heating Upgrade under the Emergency Works Grant. The Department is satisfied that this grant is sufficient to address the urgent requirements at the school. It is open to the School Authority to apply under the next round of the Summer Works Scheme to undertake further work to the school.

Written Answers — Computerisation Programme: Computerisation Programme (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: There is a total of 206 schools in Co Donegal connected through the schools broadband programme. The broadband connections are broken down as follows: Post Primary ADSL: 16 Satellite: 1 In addition 8 post-primary schools are taking part in the 100Mbit/s pilot project: Primary ADSL 129 Wireless: 1 Satellite: 51

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant assessing authority, i.e. the applicant's local authority or VEC. An applicant may appeal the decision to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where the assessing authority decides to reject the appeal, the applicant may appeal this decision to my Department by submitting an appeal form...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (5 Oct 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant assessing authority, i.e. the applicant's local authority or VEC. An applicant may appeal the decision to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where the assessing authority decides to reject the appeal, the applicant may appeal this decision to my Department by submitting an appeal form...