Results 15,001-15,020 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Capitation Grants: Capitation Grants (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The standard rate of capitation grant per pupil from 1997 to date at primary level is as follows: Year 1996-97 —£45.00 (€57.14) Year 1997-98 —£50.00 (€63.49) Year 1998-99 —£60.00 (€76.18) Year 1999-00 —£64.00 (€81.26) Year 2000-01 —£75.50 (€95.87) Year 2001-02 —€105.00 Year 2002-03 —€111.58 Year 2003-04 (January) —€121.58 Year 2004-05 (January)...

Written Answers — School Enrolments: School Enrolments (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 347 and 348 together. In the school year 2003-04, which is the last one for which there are published statistics, there were 186,597 students enrolled in secondary schools; some 70,775 students enrolled in VEC schools, including community colleges, and 50,946 enrolled in community and comprehensive schools. These figures exclude PLC students. The figures for...

Written Answers — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: DEIS, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, the new action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated school support programme, SSP. The SSP will bring together a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage and build upon them. Approximately 600 primary...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As part of the expansion of the devolved scheme for primary school building works, a grant of €450,000 was sanctioned to enable the management authorities of the school in question to provide additional accommodation. Devolving funding to school management authorities allows them to have control of their projects, assists in moving projects more quickly to tender and construction and can...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The proposed new eight-classroom building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning. The new school is as a result of the amalgamation of Kilworth girls and Kilworth boys national schools. My Department's officials wrote to the school authorities on the 23 September 2005 giving approval to proceed to stage 3 — detailed plans and costs...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 353 and 356 together. My Department has received a further report from the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, on the application in question. This is currently being considered and my officials will revert to the NCSE if further information is required. My officials will notify all relevant parties when a decision on the application has been made. I...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 355 and 357 together. I wish to inform the Deputies that discussions are ongoing with the school authorities in question as regards a possible rationalisation or re-configuration of primary educational facilities in the area concerned. The next meeting between the schools and officials in the planning section of my Department is scheduled for 2 March 2006. I...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I wish to inform the Deputy that new schools commence operation with provisional recognition from my Department. During the period of provisional recognition, it is the responsibility of the school patron to provide interim accommodation. This accommodation must be capable of fully meeting the needs of the developing school until permanent recognition has been secured and my Department is in...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy will be aware, the Dublin school planning committee acts as an initial point of contact where the local authorities can signal to my Department and the patron bodies anticipated demand for future school provision. Detailed discussions regarding reservation of sites and scale and timeframe for developments also take place at this forum. Arising from this process, a site for...

Written Answers — Schools Amalgamation: Schools Amalgamation (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The draft area development plan for the north Kerry area will be published very shortly. The plan will cover educational provision in the Tralee, Ballybunion, Causeway, Tarbert, Listowel and Castleisland areas. This new model for planning for educational infrastructure is designed to ensure that, in future, school provision will be decided after a transparent consultation process. In this...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Major improvements in school staffing have been made in recent years with the hiring of more than 5,000 additional primary teachers. This represents the largest increase in teacher numbers since the expansion of free education. Today there is one teacher for every 17 children, the lowest pupil-teacher ratio in the history of the State. Aside from decreasing average class size, the...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available in my Department. If the Deputy would like information on a particular school, I would be happy to provide it.

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available in my Department. If the Deputy would like information on a particular school, I would be happy to provide it.

Written Answers — School Absenteeism: School Absenteeism (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: A key focus of the Government's education policy is to prioritise investment in favour of those most at risk and to optimise access, participation and outcomes at every level of the system for disadvantaged groups. The total provision for educational inclusion programmes in 2006 is more than €640 million across all levels of education, as compared with almost €600 million in 2005. This...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (22 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The acquisition process for the site referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage. However, due to the commercial sensitivities attaching to site acquisitions generally, the information requested by the Deputy is not available for release at present. My Department's policy in regard to all site acquisitions is to treat them with the strictest confidentiality until the acquisition has...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (21 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 589 and 591 together. I wish to advise that the information requested by the Deputy in relation to waiting lists for special schools is not available in my Department, nor would the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, have such information readily to hand. The progression of pupils on such waiting lists would depend on the individual schools...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (21 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I take it that the Deputy is referring to the Saplings autism-specific facility, based in Rathfarnham, south Dublin, that has been established to cater for children on the autistic spectrum. The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the waiting list at the facility is not available in my Department. This facility is one of 12 autism-specific facilities that are operating on a...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (21 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Irish has been evaluated in 30 of the 65 whole school evaluations, WSEs, carried out during 2004 and 2005. Irish is one of the three core subjects, English, Mathematics or Irish, always inspected within a WSE. The inspector generally meets most or all of the teachers of Irish on the morning of the inspection. The quality of teaching and learning is then evaluated in a range of classes...

Written Answers — Educational Disadvantage: Educational Disadvantage (21 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: A key element of DEIS, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, the new action plan for educational inclusion, is the putting in place of a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage in our primary and second level schools for the purposes of qualifying for resources, both human and financial, according to the degree of disadvantaged experienced. This standardised system...

Written Answers — Departmental Programmes: Departmental Programmes (21 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The process of procurement in my Department is regulated through compliance with existing guidelines on public procurement under EU and national rules. It has not been the practice to date to produce a corporate plan in respect of this activity. However, my Department is developing its policy in this area and is participating in capacity building initiatives currently being undertaken by the...