Results 341-360 of 743 for speaker:Jim D'Arcy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Cross-Border Student Access to Higher Education: Discussion (30 May 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: Perhaps we could invite Mr. Hannigan back to discuss this issue again. However, I asked whether the institutes were happy with today's report and the proposals for clusters. Will DKIT be given the space and scope to move forward with its link to DCU, in particular? I thought the report was like a curate's egg.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Cross-Border Student Access to Higher Education: Discussion (30 May 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I second that.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: As Senator Barrett said, the State Examinations Commission has confirmed there was a mistake in the leaving certificate higher level maths paper 2. Senator Barrett referred to other errors. I understand that people can make mistakes but I was very disappointed with what happened in that regard. We must ensure that greater care is taken in compiling leaving certificate examination papers....

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: We need greater checks and balances. I ask the Minister to set up an internal investigation to report on how those errors occurred in the maths papers, in particular when we are encouraging more students to do maths. Before I conclude I wish to refer as well to the fact that in the CSPE exam a question referring to the Referendum Commission mistakenly stated the commission presented...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I recall participating in a radio discussion in 2002 with a Fianna Fáil election candidate who informed listeners that 2,000 additional teaching posts were to be created in schools throughout the country. I went back to school delighted to be able to inform my colleagues that we would be getting extra teachers. It seemed it was all over and I could pull out of the election with an easy...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: In fact, we did not get any new teachers.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I am obliged to respond to some of the nonsense we have heard this morning from the other side of the House. This is the third year in a row that the number of special needs assistants and resource teachers has been protected by the Government.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: As regards the 10% reduction in support hours, the National Council for Special Education has asked schools to use theme teaching where possible. I visited Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál in Kilsaran, County Louth, last week with the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, and my constituency colleague, Deputy Gerald Nash. There are 18 SNAs in that school, all doing a...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: He is working, however, within the limits imposed upon him as a consequence of the squandering of moneys that went on under the previous Government. Money was thrown about like confetti for years and now there is nothing left in the pot.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: There are more than 10,000 SNAs in the system. I am surprised that a person of such integrity as Senator Darragh O'Brien will not acknowledge the work being done by the Minister to retain resources and funding in the area of special educational needs.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: Not a single SNA in Donegal will lose his or her job this year.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: Apologies, a Chathaoirligh, I do not often get hot and bothered. Senator David Cullinane said he was a bit angry this morning; I am very angry at what certain colleagues have said. The Minister has asked the NCSE to establish a working group to begin developing a proposal for a revised allocation mechanism. I would like that process to be fast-tracked and a report on the matter provided...

Seanad: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, well and a full recovery. Perhaps the Minister, Deputy Quinn, will deliver my message. The structural reform of further education and training must be recognised as unprecedented in scale and potential impact. It will affect the lives of all current and future students. It will affect the future economic growth of the nation, the working lives...

Seanad: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I will indeed.

Seanad: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I take it from the Chair's comments that he knows where he is going as well.

Seanad: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: Does the Chair not think I might have a future beyond the next three years?

Seanad: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I thank the Chair. I would like to make a point about language teaching in County Louth. I met a Greek businessman lately, and we compared notes on our daughters. I mentioned that my daughters are doing this and that. He said that his daughters had completed business degrees and learned two foreign languages. When I asked him to elaborate, he said they did not speak pidgin versions of the...

Seanad: Further Education and Training Bill 2013: Second Stage (20 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: Deputy Nash and I were present when the Minister visited Scoil Mhuire gan Smál in Kilsaran last Friday. We saw how the school operates. I know Senator Power is deeply concerned about education. I guarantee her that the Minister is absolutely supportive of special education in our schools. I am sure he will talk further about it with her.

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: Although James Gandolfino, also known as Tony Soprano, died last week, what I listened to on the tapes published yesterday and today was straight out of "The Sopranos".

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Jun 2013)

Jim D'Arcy: I also agree with Senator Mullins that while investigating the outrageous happenings of the past in banking, an eye also must be kept on what is happening at present, whereby small and medium-sized businesses are unable to get loans. Dean Swift wrote an essay called "A Modest Proposal" in which the Irish people who were poor ate their own young, perhaps to keep going. Small and medium-sized...