Results 1,581-1,600 of 16,057 for speaker:Mary Coughlan

Written Answers — Schools Curriculum: Schools Curriculum (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has been progressing the development of a new subject "Politics and Society" , which is proposed as an optional examinable full subject in the Leaving Certificate. A draft syllabus has been developed by the Council and was published for consultation. The syllabus is currently being revised in the light of the feedback. After this process...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: Student grants are payable to eligible students at either what is known as an adjacent or a non-adjacent rate. These rates of grant take into consideration that additional expenses may accrue for students whose home address is a significant distance from the institution they attend. The adjacent rate of grant, which ranges from €330 to €2,680 depending on individual circumstances, is...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: A draft contract of indefinite duration and draft fixed term contracts for unqualified individuals employed in teaching posts were recently sent to the Staff side for their views. When the consultation process is completed, it is intended to issue the final contract for use by schools and VECs.

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 227, 229 and 231 together. As requested by the Deputy I have set out below a spreadsheet which provides the details of the sites acquired by my Department between 2005 and 2008. Sites Acquired by Department of Education & Skills from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2008 County Site Location School Roll No. Size (ac) Sale Closed Cost Vendor Cork Passage West...

Written Answers — Site Acquisitions: Site Acquisitions (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 228, 230 and 232 together. As requested by the Deputy I have set out below details of all sites acquired by my Department in 2009. Due to commercial sensitivities pertaining to site acquisitions generally it is not the Department's policy to provide details of the purchase cost of sites so recently acquired or any information in respect of sites acquired...

Written Answers — Medical Schools: Medical Schools (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The new entry process for admission to medical schools arose from a recommendation of the Working Group on Undergraduate Medical Education & Training (the Fottrell report). This report formed the basis for a programme of reform and expansion of medical education and training in Ireland that was approved by the Government in 2006. Following this a group of representatives from the Medical...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 235 and 242 together. A project to provide permanent accommodation for the school referred to by the Deputies involves the acquisition of a site. I am pleased to advise the Deputies that contracts for the provision of a site are now being exchanged and my Department understands that the Chief State Solicitor's Office are in contact with their counterparts to...

Written Answers — Educational Materials: Educational Materials (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: Apart from a small number of prescribed texts at second-level, mainly in the case of language subjects, decisions on which textbooks to use in first and second-level schools are taken at school level, and I have no plans to regulate this area. Syllabus planners are conscious of the need to avoid over-frequent changes to textbooks, primarily in order to minimise increases in the cost...

Written Answers — University Staff: University Staff (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: Under the Universities Act 1997 universities are autonomous statutory bodies and academically independent institutions. As provided for in the Act the recruitment and appointment of staff, including the determination of selection procedures, is the responsibility of the university's management authorities.

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: There is a total of 120 schools in Co Meath connected through the schools broadband programme. The broadband connections are broken down as follows: ADSL: 79; Wireless: 7; Satellite: 32. 100Mbit/s pilot project — post primary schools: 2 (this is out of a total of 78 schools nationwide)

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The Deputy may be aware that under the Area Development Plan for the N4/M4 corridor, published by the Commission on School Accommodation in May 2005, provision of a new post primary school for Enfield is recommended post 2011. The most recent projections used by my Department would see the projected enrolments at post-primary level increase from the current total enrolment (excluding...

Written Answers — Higher Education Schemes: Higher Education Schemes (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) is a third-level admissions scheme for students with a disability. The scheme is operated by a number of higher education institutions and not by my Department. Admissions to the institutions are regulated by the institutions themselves. The Deputy may wish to contact the Irish Universities Association in this instance.

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The school referred to by the Deputy was allocated a grant in June 2009 to replace temporary accommodation. The school management authorities were advised that they could utilise this grant to purchase replacement temporary accommodation or to build a permanent structure. I understand that the school authorities have decided to provide a permanent structure. Additional funding has recently...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: As the Deputy is aware, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is an independent agency with responsibility for determining the appropriate staffing levels in relation to the support of pupils with special educational needs in all mainstream and special schools. This includes determining the level of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support in schools. The NCSE operates within my...

Written Answers — Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) are allocated to schools to enable them to support pupils with disabilities who also have significant care needs. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers, for allocating resource teachers and SNAs to schools to support children with special educational needs. The...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for the relevant grant awarding authority. Depending on the nature of the course to be pursued, this will be either a student's local authority or VEC. As a decision on grant entitlement can only be taken on foot of a fully completed application form and the necessary supporting documentation, it is in the student's best...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: It is the policy of my Department that only qualified personnel should be employed by schools. Unqualified personnel should not be appointed except in exceptional circumstances and then only when all avenues for recruiting qualified personnel have been exhausted and only for quite limited time periods. This is now reflected in Circular 40/2010 which my Department issued earlier this year....

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: Data on primary schools is not available by Dublin postal code. The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains information relating to class size in primary schools for the 2009-2010 school year. The information includes the number of pupils in each class and the number of pupils in each class size range. The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published...

Written Answers — Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme: Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (29 Sep 2010)

Mary Coughlan: The Deputy will be aware that the current difficult economic circumstances have necessitated tough choices to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run. In these circumstances, from September 2010, as announced in the Budget, all new applicants who are in receipt of the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA), and the VTOS allowances for those pursuing PLC...

Written Answers — Grant Payments: Grant Payments (29 Sep 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...