Results 16,181-16,200 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I will address Senator Ruane's point first. I would welcome any suggestions to make the Estimates easier to understand. I have spent most of my life on the Senator's side of the table and I fully appreciate her point. We have been trying to make it better. What goes into the REV, the Estimates book, is something that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform does right across the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: Right.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I will ask for a response on that for the Senator from both the NCSE and the State Examinations Commission. Efforts are being made to reform that area. There has been criticism that accommodations at junior certificate level are often harder to get at leaving certificate level, which throws children into disarray, so to speak. I will revert to the Senator on that. On the difference...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: It has been piloted. The pilot is being evaluated. We then have to take a decision on foot of that pilot in terms of when to go ahead with it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: There is no decision on it. It has funding implications. We also would like to meet the committee to get an input into that. With any change of this nature there will be concerns about whether there will be losers as a result of it. The NCSE has designed it to make sure there will not be losers and that we could win support for it but we have to make sure we are ready to deliver. Much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I do not believe there is an alternative practice. Even in this dispute, if there is a ruling that there is a withdrawal from working the Croke Park agreement hours, which are designed to have provision where all teachers are available to meet with parents and avoid disruption to the schedule, that objective cannot be delivered if all teachers are not participating. In effect, we cannot...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I will begin with Deputy Nolan's questions. I have every reason to believe all the posts have been taken up and the cost will be met from the 2016 budget. There will be a knock-on impact next year. Approximately one third of the provision was made for this year and, therefore, the allocation will be trebled for 2017. I take her point about guidance counsellors. I recognise their role...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I am sorry. A separate panel for competence in Irish is being established by the Public Appointments Service, PAS. My Department will recruit from that panel to meet these needs. We are also developing a policy for teaching Irish in the Gaeltacht, where a separate set of issues is emerging. Sometimes the quality of the language levels within the Gaeltacht are under some pressure. I take...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I assure Deputy Thomas Byrne that fulfilment of the commitments in A Confidence and Supply Arrangement for a Fine Gael-Led Government is, of course, a priority. However, it is not a question of doing so in year one. That said, I take the Deputy's point. We are committed to restoring guidance counselling. We are obviously committed to making changes in certain areas - such as the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: That is a fair point. I will seek a response for the Senator on the issue. I was not aware of the restrictions to which the Senator refers. Deputy Nolan asked about future plans in the context of the budget. The budget has not yet been agreed, although if I knew the answer to the Deputy's question I would probably not be able to tell her. The same is true of the multifunctional rooms...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: There are no ready statistics on temporary accommodation. The programme in that regard is still under consideration. It is a case of prioritising programmes that can be implemented. I take the Senator's point about the need for more training in special education at primary level. There is huge emphasis on continuous professional development, including in the area of special needs...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: We published it but it is a draft plan so we will accept commentary.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: A number of Deputies made submissions in advance that we took into account. We have brought the plan to Government to publish in draft form so that the committee can give it consideration. Other groups that are interested can make a contribution. The methodology is that we will publish early in 2017 a programme for 2017 so there is an opportunity for us to adapt what we do in 2017 to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I know all about them because I have two of them in my family.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy has said, the percentage of prefabs has continued to drop from 1,700 down to under 1,000 now and there are many sanctioned. The programme is continuing and money is allocated to it each year. The spend on rent was €19 million, which is a significant amount. I shall send a note on the scheme to the Deputy .

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Vote 26 – Department of Education and Skills (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: As Deputy Thomas Byrne will remind the committee, Mr. Peter Cassells is a brother of Mr. Joe Cassells, a well known Meath footballer. The surname is pronounced differently by people from Meath.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Charges (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: Based on the number of students that qualified for free fees funding in the academic year 2014/15 (and were therefore liable to pay the Student Contribution), and taking into account overall expected increases in student numbers, it is estimated that the cost to my Department of reducing the Student Contribution by €250 for the 2017/18 academic year would be €17m.  The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation Provision (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department received an application in 2015 for significant capital funding for the replacement of classrooms, additional ancillary accommodation and refurbishment works from the school referred to.  The Deputy will be aware that my Department’s funding priority is focused on the provision of essential classroom accommodation to cater for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme Eligibility (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: Approved undergraduate courses for the Student Grant Scheme 2016 are prescribed in the Student Support Regulations 2016 and in the Student Support Act 2011. The Regulations prescribe that an approved undergraduate course is a full-time course leading to a major higher education and training award which takes a minimum of two years to complete in an approved institution. Courses that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Health and Safety (29 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 110 to 112, inclusive, together. Under my Department’s Technical Guidance Documents it is a requirement to have the quality of drinking water tested for all new school building projects. In addition, existing schools may themselves, as a matter of routine, arrange for water testing to be carried out without recourse to my Department. Since 2011 to...