Results 16,061-16,080 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: Obviously, I cannot give a timeline because there are many issues involved, including the planning application, the detail and the design, all of which are issues that have to be completed by the design team. The necessary consents have to be obtained. Those are not in the control of my Department. I assure the Deputy that when projects reach a certain point, as has been the case this...

Other Questions: School Patronage (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: In April 2016, applications were invited for the patronage of nine new post-primary schools to be established in 2017 and 2018, including the new post-primary school to serve the Portlaoise area. The closing date for receipt of applications for this process was 8 June 2016.  Patrons submitted with their application a parental preference template in which parents were requested to...

Other Questions: School Patronage (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: As I indicated to Deputy Stanley, there are nine. There is an external independent advisory group which oversees the process. The information I have is that it is expected to report to me within the coming weeks. I want to reassure Deputy Stanley that the school will open as scheduled in September 2017 in suitable interim accommodation, pending the completion of construction of the...

Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy there is no slowdown. In fact, there will be more spent on the capital programme for schools this year than was the case last year and there will be provision for 20,000 additional places for pupils in 50 major projects that will be completed by the end of the year. The position in respect of a small number of schools is that when the last batch was released in April,...

Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: First, I welcome any and all support for additional funding. It is encouraging to see so much support in the House for education funding. Sadly, that will have to compete with other demands. I assure the Deputy that, as far as I am concerned, St. Mochta's is a priority. As I say, we are monitoring our expenditure closely to see if we will be in a position to release projects. As...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: The building project for the school to which the Deputy refers was recently approved to progress to the advanced stage of the architectural planning process, stage 2b - detailed design - which includes the applications for planning permission, fire certificate and disability access certificate and the preparation of tender documents. The design team, in liaison with officials from the...

Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: To reassure Deputy Stanley, my Department is taking an active role on this. All relevant technical issues have now been addressed and the Department is optimistic that the landowner's consent will be forthcoming. As Deputy Stanley will be aware, the project involves the construction, on a greenfield site, of a post-primary school building to cater for 850 pupils and an issue had to be...

Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: I will not comment. I am aware Deputy Thomas Byrne and his party have made comments about the budget across a range of different areas and I would not like to be doing the totting of the total from higher education and postgraduates to pensions and so on.

Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: However, I recognise this reflects genuine pressures and needs. There has been almost a lost decade in which investment all Members of this House would have liked to have made could not be made. The Government must try to cut its cloth to make the investment over the coming years in those areas in which it can have the greatest impact. I recognise that priorities have been set out here and...

Priority Questions: National Educational Psychological Service (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Deputy. My Department's National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, in line with best international practice, operates a tiered consultative model of service and it supports schools in a continuum of support process. This means each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or...

Priority Questions: National Educational Psychological Service (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: I accept the Deputy's point that NEPS is an important service and the Government needs to invest more, which is why there is a commitment to an increase in the resources within NEPS of 25%. On the other hand, there is a genuine debate about whether assessment is the best route to support children with needs. That is why NEPS works through a model that is not all about assessments, as I...

Priority Questions: National Educational Psychological Service (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: First, I can indicate the Department is in the process of recruiting some additional NEPS psychologists. Initially, that will be within the existing permitted cap. That work is being done and will increase the capacity to meet demand. I can also tell the Deputy that 47 schools were involved in the pilot approach for the new resource allocation model. Evaluation of that pilot is under way...

Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: The six-year capital plan for 2016 to 2021 announced last November by the previous Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, detailed the major school building projects that are scheduled to proceed to construction over the lifetime of the plan. As of now, with more than two months of 2016 remaining, five projects from the 2016 list are at the most advanced stage of architectural planning, namely,...

Priority Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: Both the Action Plan for Education 2016-2019 and the programme for Government have a specific action to enhance guidance counselling at second level as resources permit. A significant move was made last month with the restoration of half of the cut in the provision for guidance counselling. This was equivalent to the restoration of 300 posts. The delivery of the 50% restoration...

Priority Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: That is a widespread view. We need to make sure that resources are devoted to counselling. At the same time, I am conscious that in an increasing number of schools there is group work and class based activity at senior cycle, which is designed to provide support within the counselling remit. I do not want to undermine that. I understand some schools are considering counselling as a whole...

Priority Questions: School Guidance Counsellors (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: I agree wholly with the Deputy. The issue is not whether we need to restore counselling and the level of counselling that must be provided in the school. We must be conscious that some schools provide models whereby the counselling is not delivered through one individual. If that is a working model that is delivering, we need to have some level of understanding of how it works on the...

Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: Financial supports are currently available for approximately 2,300 postgraduate students who meet the eligibility criteria of the student grant scheme. Postgraduate students who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant under the student grant scheme are eligible to have their postgraduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit of €6,270. Alternatively, a...

Priority Questions: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: The total number of postgraduate students is 37,000, made up of approximately 22,500 full-time and just over 15,000 part-time. That figure has grown by 8% since 2010-11. I recognise the importance of postgraduate study. It has been influential in the significant role played by Springboard in recent years where a postgraduate option to allow people retrain has been very successful: its...

Priority Questions: Third Level Institutions (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: While there has been a decline in the rankings of some Irish institutions, Ireland performs ahead of most European countries relative to its population size and has the highest level of tertiary attainment rate for 30 to 34 year olds in Europe. We have to be cautious about how we interpret the results of these commercial global rankings. It is clear that performance in rankings are often...

Priority Questions: Third Level Institutions (4 Oct 2016)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy chooses to interpret things the way he does. If he reads the action plan for education he will see that we place a high priority on meeting the skill needs of the future, not only in universities but also in respect of matters such as apprenticeships and traineeships. We place a high priority on increasing by 30% the number of young people from disadvantaged areas that get...