Results 16,261-16,280 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Institutions (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: High Performance Computing (HPC) services include the provision and support of high-end computing resources, data analytics, education and training services to industry and higher education institutions. Globally, supercomputers are playing an ever increasing and critically important role in a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields of relevance to cloud technologies,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides an educational psychological service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are in the NEPS section of my Department's website. Under this scheme schools can...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: Early intervention classes are intended to provide early support for children with ASD before they start school. Following early intervention children will attend a mainstream class unless there is professional guidance that they require a special class. The enrolment of a child to a school is a matter, in the first instance, for the parent of the child and the Board of Management of a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects Status (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 263 and 264 together. The major building project which the Deputy refers to is at an advanced stage of architectural planning - Stage 2(b). All Statutory approvals have been secured and the Design Team are completing the preparation of Tender Documents. The Design Team has informed my Department that the Stage 2B drawings are well advanced and completion of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Summer Works Scheme (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: Both the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) and the Emergency Work Scheme (EWS) were introduced by my Department in 2004. Since the introduction of the SWS, it has always been the policy of my Department and a condition of the Scheme that schools must apply for the most urgently needed works. If a school does not apply for its most urgently needed works and subsequently applies for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The travel and subsistence allocation supports the delivery of key functions within my Department. Travel and subsistence payments made to Department staff are subject to regular internal and external review and audit. The following table sets out the total costs in respect of domestic and foreign travel and subsistence payments made to Department staff for the period January 2011...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Data Protection (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: My Department has a designated FOI/Records Management/Data Protection Officer who is responsible for ensuring organisational compliance with Freedom of Information, National Archives and Data Protection Acts. The data protection role includes the annual registration of my Department with the Office of Data Protection Commissioner, assigning data protection...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Charges (27 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 net cost to my Department of abolishing the Student Contribution for the 2017/18 academic year would be €206.56 million. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The cost to the State associated with the abolition of postgraduate fees is dependent on varying factors associated with type study i.e. full-time or part-time, varying fees associated with different course types and higher fees for international students. However, based on the fact that in the academic year 2015/16, there were 11,975 EU students registered on postgraduate...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: In the period 2011 to 2015 the capitation and related grants for primary and post primary schools were reduced by just over 11% in aggregate. The estimated cost of reversing all the cuts to capitation and related Grants since 2008 to primary and post primary schools levels would be circa €40 million.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grants Data (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: It is not possible to definitively calculate the cost of the various adjustments that have been made to the student support system since 2008, particularly in light of the demographic changes that have taken place. To put it in context, in 2008/09 there were 57,261 students who benefitted from grant support at a cost of €264 million, whereas in 2015/16 there were 80,622 students...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The Programme for Government has a commitment to reduce class sizes at primary level and to commencing a review of teacher appointment thresholds in small schools with four teachers or less. The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to primary schools is published annually on the website of the Department of Education and Skills. The key factor for determining the level of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy will be aware that Budget 2016 made provision for some 2,260 additional teaching posts for our primary and post primary schools in the current school year. These posts have provided for an improvement in the staffing schedules at primary and post primary levels, enhanced the leadership and management roles of deputy principals at post-primary level by reducing their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: It is difficult to make precise comparisons between the levels of grants paid and the actual costs of running schools at primary and post primary levels. However it is self-evident that the maintenance and running costs for second level schools are much greater on a unit cost basis than those in primary schools. In general, second level schools are larger than primary schools and have a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: Irish Sign Language has formal recognition in the Education Act, 1998. Under the Act, it is a function of the Minister for Education and Skills to ensure, subject to the provisions of the Act, that there is made available to each person resident in the State, including a person with a disability or who has other special educational needs, support services and a level and quality of education...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The new short course in Irish Sign Language (ISL) was developed by the Post-Primary Languages Initiative in the context of the new Framework for Junior Cycle. The course is currently being piloted in the Mid-West School for the Hearing Impaired in Limerick. Following this, the course will be ready to be implemented by schools opting to introduce ISL. Short courses were introduced...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disability Services Provision (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: I wish to advise the Deputy that a new Inclusion Support Service within the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is currently being established in order to assist schools in supporting children with special education needs. The service will include the Special Education Support Service (SESS), the National Behaviour Support Service (NBSS) and the Visiting Teacher...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Disability Services Provision (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations Appeals (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (27 Sep 2016)

Richard Bruton: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) is responsible for processing applications from schools for special educational needs supports. SENOs also make recommendations to my Department where assistive technology is required.  The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in making...