Results 16,741-16,760 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The primary school curriculum 1999 was developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, whose function is to advise the Minister for Education and Science on curriculum review and assessment. It is an integrated, child-centred curriculum which aims to meet the needs of all children in all schools. The NCCA's work was assisted by committees, representing all the principal...

Written Answers — Youth Services: Youth Services (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I refer the Deputy to my reply of 11 October 2005 on the priorities for the development of the youth work sector identified for 2005. The following is the up-to-date position. With regard to the Youth Work Act 2001, discussions are continuing between my Department and the Department of Finance on the resources being sought by VECs to fulfil their requirements under the Act. Following recent...

Written Answers — Education Schemes: Education Schemes (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 543 and 544 together. Arrangements have been put in place enabling teachers qualified outside the State to be granted recognition to teach in primary schools provided that their qualifications meet the requirements set by my Department. Two forms of recognition are granted to these teachers: provisional recognition to commence teaching in mainstream primary...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department uses, as a basic yardstick to assist architects in assessing the value for money of designs for building projects, a basic building cost, BBC, per square metre. The current BBC for primary schools is €1,170 per square metre. The Deputy should be aware that ultimately it is the market that determines the actual tender price for all projects and such prices fluctuate depending...

Written Answers — Health Action Plan: Health Action Plan (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Schools are privately owned, privately managed institutions which, although funded by the State, enjoy a large degree of autonomy. It is, therefore, primarily a matter for each school to decide on the types of food that are available on the school premises. I am not aware of any impediment that would prevent schools imposing a ban on the selling or advertising of certain foodstuffs on school...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The main eligibility conditions of my Department's free fees initiative are that students must be first time undergraduates, hold EU nationality or official refugee status and have been ordinarily resident in an EU member state for three of the five years preceding entry to an approved course. The third level institutions are autonomous bodies and, as such, may determine the level of fees to...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The property management section of the Office of Public Works, which acts on behalf of my Department in relation to site acquisitions generally, is continuing to explore a number of site options for the school referred to by the Deputy. When the site issue is resolved, the architectural design and construction of the new school will be considered in the context of the school building and...

Written Answers — Teachers' Remuneration: Teachers' Remuneration (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The category two allowance is payable to teachers who are seconded to a range of positions under the various national education initiatives, in accordance with the findings of the teachers arbitration board in July 2003. The person concerned is not a seconded teacher and therefore is not in receipt of the allowance. However, my Department is reviewing the arrangements applying under the...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 550 and 551 together. In the 2004-05 school year a total of 117 primary school classes in Wexford had 30 or more pupils. The 2005-06 census of primary schools has commenced. As the census date is 30 September 2005 it will be some months before all school returns have been received and processed in my Department. When this process has been completed class...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Facilities: Telecommunications Facilities (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: On 29 of September last, I announced plans for the provision of 23 new post-primary and four new primary schools under a major extension of the Government's public private partnership programme from 2006 to 2009. My Department is currently engaged in the roll-out of broadband connectivity to all recognised primary and post-primary schools. This project is being undertaken in partnership with...

Written Answers — Computerisation Programme: Computerisation Programme (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The provision of broadband connectivity is one of a number of facets of the Department's ICT initiative, the objective of which is to integrate information and communications technology into teaching and learning in first and second level schools. The key elements to achieving this objective are: access to the technologies; the development of skills in their usage; and the availability of...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy was previously advised, the general allocation for the school in question is 20 part-time hours and the school was placed in a cluster arrangement with another school. The school submitted a proposal to retain the special education post. The proposal involved creating a second cluster arrangement with another local school by combining the resource teaching hours in both schools...

Written Answers — Residential Institutions Redress Scheme: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 provides a statutory scheme of financial redress for persons who, as children, were abused while in residential institutional care. The scheme applies in respect of institutions specified in the Schedule to the Act. Section 4 of the Act provides that the Minister for Education and Science may, by order, provide for the insertion in the Schedule of...

Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Given our statutory obligations under the 1998 Education Act, the Department of Education and Science is very conscious of its Irish-speaking customer base. Documents such as circulars, application forms and reports have always been available in both languages. For this reason, it is not possible to identify precisely what translation costs have incurred because of the Official Languages Act,...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The school planning section of the Department of Education and Science is in receipt of an application for a general purpose room from the school referred to by the Deputy. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects and has been assigned a band 4 rating. Its progress will be considered in the context of the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: An application for an extension has been received from the management authorities of the school referred to by the Deputy and has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria, which were revised following consultation with the education partners. An upward trend in enrolment in recent years necessitated a review of enrolment and demographic trends to ensure that any...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The refurbishment and extension project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning. Department of Education and Science officials recently wrote to the school authorities giving approval to proceed to stages 4-5, planning permission-fire certification, bill of quantities-tender documents of architectural planning. Progression of projects to...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The project at the school to which the Deputy refers has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria which were revised following consultation with the education partners. Progress on the project is being considered in the context of the school building programme from 2006 onwards.

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The enrolment figures for every post-primary school in the country are published each year in the Department's list of post-primary schools. The enrolment figures for the school in question are Year Enrolment 2000-01 314 2001-02 302 2002-03 319 2003-04 256 2004-05 252 A building project for the school which is at an early stage of architectural planning was initially...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (25 Oct 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Teacher allocations to second level schools are approved annually by the Department of Education and Science in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. Each school management authority is required to organise its timetable and subject options having regard to pupils needs within the limit of its approved teacher allocation. The rules for allocating teaching...