Results 15,381-15,400 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — Education Schemes: Education Schemes (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: My Department funds three means-tested maintenance grant schemes for third level education students in respect of attendance on approved courses in approved third level institutions and one maintenance grant scheme in respect of students attending approved post-leaving certificate courses in approved PLC centres. These include the higher education grants scheme; the vocational education...

Written Answers — Schools Amalgamation: Schools Amalgamation (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that works on the schools in question were included in the recent announcement of 62 schools for which design teams will be appointed under the 2006 capital programme. The timing of the amalgamation and the relocation of the schools is dependent on the rate of progress on the refurbishment project and, in particular, the timing of its completion. The nature...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Under the terms of the higher education grants scheme which is administered by the local authorities on behalf of my Department, the position is that, generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. The candidate's...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: An application for funding for works at the school referred to by the Deputy has not been received in my Department. Accordingly, I arranged that an application form issue to the school for completion and return. As soon as the completed application form is returned the matter will be considered and the outcome will be notified to the school authorities without delay.

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The decision on eligibility for maintenance grants is a matter for the relevant local authority or VEC. These bodies do not refer individual applications to my Department except, in exceptional cases, where, for example, advice or instruction regarding a particular clause in the relevant scheme is desired. Under the terms of my Department's four student maintenance grant schemes, grants are...

Written Answers — Home-School Liaison Scheme: Home-School Liaison Scheme (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 514 and 522 together. The cost of providing home tuition for children with autism who are attending school is estimated at €1 million euro annually. As the Deputy may be aware, the home tuition scheme is primarily intended to provide compensatory instruction for pupils who have a medical ailment that is likely to cause major disruption to their attendance at...

Written Answers — Languages Programme: Languages Programme (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Further to Parliamentary Question No. 532 of 31 January 2006, information is provided in the appendix in regard to the inspection of Irish in 152 post-primary schools during the calendar years 2004 and 2005. This updated figure takes account of a number of inspections of Irish, in the period 1 January 2004 to 30 June 2004, which had not previously been included. Apart from the 75 schools...

Written Answers — School Inspections: School Inspections (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I signed the Education Act 1998 (Publication of Inspection Reports on Schools and Centres for Education) Regulations 2006 and placed these regulations before the Oireachtas last week. The document entitled Publication of School Inspection Reports: Guidelines, 30 January 2006, is available on my Department's website at www.education.ie. The guidelines state that publication procedures will...

Written Answers — Teachers' Remuneration: Teachers' Remuneration (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Under the spouses' and children's scheme introduced for male teachers in 1969, and extended to female teachers in 1981, a refund of contributions is made to a teacher who is single at the time of retirement. A full refund is made where the teacher has never been married; a partial refund is made where the teacher's spouse is already deceased. When such contributions are repaid, 20% of the...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Circular Letter 6/98, issued by my Department in February 1998, sets out the schedule of assistant principal and special duties teacher posts in voluntary secondary schools as agreed between the respective management bodies, the teacher unions and my Department. Circular 5/98, also issued by my Department in February 1998, sets out the agreed national criteria for the level and types of...

Written Answers — School Inspections: School Inspections (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The inspectorate is divided into two sub-divisions. The regional subdivision is responsible for the delivery and management of inspection-evaluative services and related advisory activities in schools and centres for education in five regional business units covering the country. The policy support subdivision is responsible for contributing to the development of departmental policy across a...

Written Answers — School Inspections: School Inspections (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: A total of 34 subject inspections is planned for 2006. Inspectors of Irish will also be engaged in a number of whole school evaluations, in the inspection of ten coláiste samhraidh and in the compilation and finalisation of a composite inspection report on the teaching and learning of Irish based on evidence arising from inspections in 75 post-primary schools, 39 secondary, 26 vocational,...

Written Answers — Irish Language: Irish Language (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am aware of the decreasing numbers of males entering the teaching profession, and it is an issue that is of concern to me. I believe that it is important to attract more men into teaching for a number of reasons, not least of which is the positive role models that teachers provide in children's lives and the desirability of having both male and female role models in our schools. I believe...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (7 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: My Department accepts the view that there is a spectrum of autistic conditions as supported by the two main classification systems that are used by mental health professionals, namely, The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, 1994, ICD-10, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, American Psychiatric...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (2 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school to which she refers is included in my recent announcement of 62 large scale building projects country wide which have been approved to progress under the school building and modernisation programme. These will be progressed by way of the appointment of a design team under my Department's capital programme for 2006. The next step in the process...

Written Answers — Schools Refurbishment: Schools Refurbishment (2 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school to which she refers is included in my recent announcement of 62 large scale building projects country wide which have been approved to progress under the school building and modernisation programme. These will be progressed by way of the appointment of a design team under my Department's capital programme for 2006. The next step in the process...

Written Answers — Inquiry into Child Abuse: Inquiry into Child Abuse (2 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: Section 4 of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 provides that the Minister for Education and Science may, by order, insert additional institutions in the Schedule to the Act. In order that an institution be considered under section 4, it must be an industrial school, a reformatory school, an orphanage, a children's home, a special school for children with a physical or intellectual...

Written Answers — Education Welfare Service: Education Welfare Service (2 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: My officials have been advised by the National Educational Welfare Board that it wrote to the parent in question on 19 January 2006 requesting that the parent make contact with the local educational welfare officer to discuss the student's educational needs. The officer is awaiting contact from the parent.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (2 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The property management section of the Office of Public Works, which acts on behalf of my Department with regard to site acquisitions generally, has been requested to source a site for the provision of a new school building for Kill national school.

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (2 Feb 2006)

Mary Hanafin: The property management section of the Office of Public Works, which acts on behalf of my Department with regard to site acquisitions generally, has been requested to source a site for the provision of a new school building for Kill national school.