Results 1,721-1,740 of 3,895 for speaker:John Halligan

Priority Questions: School Transport Review (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: I take representations from every Member, including many from the Deputy's party-----

Priority Questions: School Transport Review (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: -----who have been successful in their applications to me. People are unclear regarding concessionary transport. The problem is that, although it has been dramatically increased in recent years to approximately 25,000 people, the scheme is still based on the amount of money that is made available to my Department. I make this point consistently - I am not in a position, nor would I want...

Priority Questions: School Transport Review (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: -----to allow everyone to get school transport, but that is not the case as it is.

Priority Questions: School Transport Review (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: The Deputy is completely wrong. I made a clear commitment that any eligible child who was entitled to school transport would get it. There are no children who are eligible for school transport who do not get it. The concessionary scheme was set up to deal with eligible children. If places on buses became available because eligible children could not fill them, children in the...

Priority Questions: School Transport Review (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: I thank the Deputy. As she knows, the programme for Government committed to a review of the concessionary charges and rules element of the school transport scheme. It was commenced in June 2016 and published in December of that year. As part of the review process, I established an Oireachtas cross-party working group, of which the Deputy was a member, to feed into it. That group met to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Skills Shortages (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: The National Skills Strategy 2025 identifies Ireland's current skills profile, provides a strategic vision and specific objectives for Ireland's future skills requirements, and sets out a road map for how the vision and objectives can be achieved across the education and training sector. With over 140 Actions, the Strategy sets out the Government's commitment to improving and using...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Training Fund (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: The National Training Fund is mainly resourced by a levy on employers of 0.7% of reckonable earnings in respect of employees in Class A and Class H employments, which represents approximately 75% of all insured employees. The levy is collected through the PAYE/PRSI system and funds are transferred monthly to my Department by the Department of Social Protection. The amount collected has...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Literacy Levels (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: Ireland was one of 25 countries that participated in the first round of the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) survey in 2011-12. A further nine countries participated in the second round in 2014-15. On the literacy scale, Irish adults achieved an adjusted mean score of 266, slightly above the survey average score of 265, placing Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Eligibility (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Currently in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually. Changes to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (18 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: As the Deputy is aware, in order to be registered as an apprentice by SOLAS, a person must be employed by an approved employer. Recruitment to apprenticeship is therefore driven by employers rather than by SOLAS or by education and training providers. Currently the Apprenticeship Council is overseeing the expansion of the apprenticeship system into a range of new areas, following a call...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Youth Guarantee (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) is one of the main EU financial resources to support the implementation of the youth guarantee by providing job, education and training opportunities to young people aged 15-25 who are not in employment, education of training.  YEI funding is reserved for use in those regions, including Ireland, where youth unemployment levels exceeded...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Applications (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Currently in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually. In general,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 380 and 381 together. School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Currently in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: SOLAS Training and Education Programmes Data (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 382 and 383 together. The forecast apprentice registrations in the 27 craft trades is set out in the attached table. CRAFT Actual Registration 2016 Forecast Registrations 2017 Forecast Registrations 2018 Forecast Registrations 2019 Forecast Registrations 2020 BRICK & STONELAYING 52 65 95 140 180 CARPENTRY & JOINERY 399 570 700 810 1045...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Eligibility (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Currently in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually. In general,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Data (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 395 and 396 together. School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Currently in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Positive Ageing Strategy (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 400 to 402, inclusive, together. Objective 1.2 of the National Positive Ageing Strategy assigns responsibility to my Department to promote access to a wide range of opportunities for continued learning and education for older people. Within the further education and training (FET) sector there is a range of flexible high quality programmes on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Applications (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Currently in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually. In general,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Youth Employment Initiative (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 418 and 419 together. As the Deputy will be aware, the EU additional pre-financing of €19.8m made available for the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) was due to be reimbursed to the Commission in the absence of an interim claim being submitted to the Commission by May 2016.   My Department reimbursed this pre-financing to the Commission...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport Review (17 Jan 2017)

John Halligan: School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Currently over 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually. Children...