Results 17,921-17,940 of 20,682 for speaker:Mary Hanafin

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I have already addressed the issue raised here in an earlier question. The school referred to by the Deputy opened in September 1996 with provisional recognition. Having met the criteria for recognition and proven its viability, the school was granted permanent recognition in 2000. Standard practice is that the school authorities are responsible for the securing of interim accommodation which...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have included the building project for the school in question in my recently announced list of school projects to be progressed through architectural planning in 2005. The building project is at an early stage of architectural planning — stage 1-2-3, detail plans-costs. The stage submission for this project has recently been examined by my...

Written Answers — Higher Education Sector: Higher Education Sector (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 72 together. The OECD review of Irish higher education makes a series of far-reaching recommendations for reform and development of the sector, against the backdrop of the crucial role which has been identified for it in helping to achieve the broad strategic national goal of becoming a leading knowledge-based society. The Government has approved the...

Written Answers — Schools Building Projects: Schools Building Projects (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: School building projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need using published criteria. In this regard, an application from the school to which the Deputy refers was received in the planning section of my Department on Thursday last, 9 June 2005, seeking additional accommodation for the 2006-07 school year onwards....

Written Answers — Vetting Procedures: Vetting Procedures (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 64, 128, 147 and 674 together. The central vetting unit is run by the Garda Síochána and it is therefore the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who has primary responsibility in this area. The vetting unit is responsible for vetting requests in relation to prospective employees of designated agencies who would have substantial unsupervised access...

Written Answers — School Staffing: School Staffing (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 780 together. I am aware of the submission of the parents' association of the school referred to by the Deputies and of the board of management's appeal in respect of the loss of a mainstream teaching post. The staffing of a primary school is determined by reference to the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year, and by...

Written Answers — Pupil-Teacher Ratio: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Significant improvements have been made in the pupil-teacher ratio and in average class size in recent years. The average class size at primary level is now 23.9, down from 26.6 in 1996-97. The pupil-teacher ratio, which includes all the teachers including resource teachers, has fallen from 22.2:1 in the 1996-97 school year to 17.44:1 in 2003-04. Over 4,000 additional teachers have been...

Written Answers — Early Childhood Education: Early Childhood Education (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: Early education in Ireland covers the period from birth to six years. Almost all five year olds and half of four year olds attend junior infant and senior infant classes in primary schools. Provision for children below the age of four is targeted at specific groups. Outside of junior classes in primary schools, my Department's main role in the area of early childhood education encompasses...

Written Answers — School Accommodation: School Accommodation (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department is considering an extension project at the school to which the Deputy refers in the context of the overall school building and modernisation programme 2005-2009. The project has been assessed and will be prioritised using the published prioritisation criteria. The project will provide a general purposes room and ancillary accommodation. In 2002, following a specific approach...

Written Answers — Literacy Levels: Literacy Levels (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: In 2004, the inspectorate of my Department carried out a focused evaluation of educational provision in the areas of literacy and numeracy development in 12 primary schools with a high concentration of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The purposes of the evaluation were to report on the quality of provision for literacy and numeracy development in the selected schools; to identify the...

Written Answers — Schools Funding: Schools Funding (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: As the Deputy is aware, issues were raised in a number of quarters about the funding provided by my Department to Coláiste Mhuire Marino-Marino Institute of Education for the training of primary teachers. I announced, on 6 May, that I had asked PricewaterhouseCoopers to "examine the question of the use of monies paid by the Department of Education and Science to Coláiste Mhuire...

Written Answers — Standardised Testing: Standardised Testing (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: I propose to take Questions Nos. 71, 77 and 86 together. As I have said before, I see great potential for a new system of standardised testing to provide valuable information which will help everyone involved in education — parents, teachers and policymakers — to play their part in enabling each child to reach his or her full potential. The results of standardised tests will help parents...

Written Answers — School Curriculum: School Curriculum (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department's approach to the increasingly diverse cultural and ethnic nature of the pupil base in our schools is twofold — to promote and facilitate the delivery of an intercultural education for all children and to provide the specific supports needed by children whose first language is not English to help them to succeed at school. Intercultural education revolves around respecting and...

Written Answers — Higher Education Grants: Higher Education Grants (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: In my reply to Parliamentary Question Number 55 of 26 April 2005 in relation to the availability of a statistical breakdown of grantholders by socio-economic background, I referred to the fact that the most recent data on participation rates at third level is that published in the HEA review of higher education participation in 2003, which showed that participation in higher education among...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, does not normally keep waiting lists of children requiring assessment in the sense of lists of names that are dealt with in chronological order. NEPS operates a staged assessment process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention, in consultation with its assigned NEPS...

Written Answers — Psychological Service: Psychological Service (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: While it is true that more than 1,000 primary schools and 13% of post-primary schools do not have NEPS psychologists assigned to them, it is important to note that all schools have access to psychological assessments, either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, for those schools currently served by NEPS, or through the scheme for commissioning psychological...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The number of children availing of school transport services in a school year varies from time to time. However, the average number of children availing of school transport daily is 138,000. This includes approximately 8,000 children with special educational needs.

Written Answers — Vetting Procedures: Vetting Procedures (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: A cross-governmental working group was established to put forward proposals for reform of vetting by the central vetting unit run by the Garda Síochána. Among its recommendations was the proposal that the Departments of Education and Science and Health and Children explore the possibility of developing an employment history register, similar to the PECS system in Northern Ireland. An...

Written Answers — School Transport: School Transport (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: My Department, at the invitation of a UK manufacturer, recently viewed a demonstrator bus at Bus Éireann's headquarters in Broadstone, Dublin. The bus was fitted with three seats on one of the aisle and two seats on the other. All seats were fitted with seat belts. In fact, this is the third demonstrator bus viewed by officials of my Department and Bus Éireann. The other two vehicles, which...

Written Answers — National Adult Literacy Council: National Adult Literacy Council (14 Jun 2005)

Mary Hanafin: The National Adult Learning Council was formed in March 2002 on an ad hoc basis with the intention that it would be established as a statutory body under section 54 of the Education Act 1998. Following the formation of the ad hoc council, concerns emerged that the functions envisaged for the council were too wide-ranging and were not sufficiently focused. Additionally, a number of...