Results 17,441-17,460 of 19,632 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level. The renewed DEIS Plan published in 2017 sets out the vision for future interventions in the critical area of educational disadvantage policy and builds on what has already been achieved by schools who have benefitted from the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: It remains the Government’s and my Department’s key objective for schools to remain open and to continue to operate as normally as possible. However, I recognise that despite the best efforts of all stakeholders, there will be situations where individual pupils or groups of pupils, teachers, or possibly entire school communities, are requested by Public Health HSE to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: My Department provides a book grant to all recognised primary and post primary schools within the Free Education Scheme in order to provide assistance for books including Book Rental Schemes. Under this scheme, the Department provided funding of €16.9 million in 2019 to all of these schools. School book rental schemes have an important role to play in reducing the cost of school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Fees (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: Voluntary contributions by parents of pupils enrolled in recognised schools are permissible provided it is made absolutely clear to parents that there is no question of compulsion to pay and that, in making a contribution, they are doing so of their own volition. The manner in which such voluntary contributions are sought and collected is a matter for school management, however their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: I understand the need for improved capitation funding and I am pleased to have been able to provide for a further 2.5% increase in standard capitation funding for primary and post-primary schools that applied from the start of the 2020/21 school year. This builds on last year’s 5% increase in capitation announced in budget 2019. The combined increases given in 2019 and 2020 mean that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: The Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the HSE have published guidance for managing potential cases of COVID-19 in educational settings, which includes the testing strategy within an educational facility ‘Schools Pathway for COVID-19, the Public Health approach’ It is important to note that the response to confirmed cases or outbreaks of COVID-19 in the community or in a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: I can confirm a potential permanent site option has been identified and discussions are ongoing with the landowner with a view to acquiring this site. As the Deputy will appreciate, the site acquisition process can be lengthy and there can be complex issues which need to be addressed during negotiations, technical assessments or conveyancing. Integral to this process was an examination...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: The decision of 19 March 2020 to cancel the oral component of the Leaving Certificate language examinations and to award full marks for these was based on the premise that the remaining components would proceed as normal. The Deputy will be aware that, due to the continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not possible to proceed with the remaining examination components as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the school in question was granted emergency works funding for mechanical works. As this is a devolved project, it is the responsibility of the school authority to progress the works.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: The school building project to which the Deputy refers has been approved funding under my Department's Additional Accommodation Scheme to enable the school to build a two classroom SEN base. The project has been devolved for delivery to Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB (DDLETB) and a Design Team has been appointed in that respect. The project is currently in Architectural Design....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: The building referred to by Deputy has not yet been handed over. My Department is taking appropriate steps to ensure that it is completely satisfied that the building is fit for handover prior to accepting it. There is currently an engagement underway between my Department and the Contractor in this regard under the contract. Communications are ongoing and the issue is being actively...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: As was announced on 30 September, my Department engaged the services of Educational Testing Service (ETS), a US-based non-profit organisation which specialises in educational measurement, to review essential aspects of the coding underpinning the Leaving Certificate Calculated Grades model. This engagement was initiated following the discovery of errors in the coding. ETS submitted their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: 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 the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: The criteria used for the allocation of teaching posts is published annually on the Department website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources (teachers) provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: The criteria used for the allocation of teaching posts is published annually on the Department website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources (teachers) provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. The purpose of the Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school. The Department has been engaging intensively with Bus Éireann in regard...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Ministerial Briefing (3 Nov 2020)

Norma Foley: The comprehensive briefing document to me on my appointment as Minister will be published on the Department's website shortly.