Tuesday, 11 Nov 2014

Written Answers Nos. 469-483

Schools Building Projects Status

Questions (469)

Terence Flanagan

Question:

469. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding a school building; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43069/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The major building project referred to by the Deputy is currently at Stage 2A of Architectural Planning - Developed Sketch Design. The ETB and their Design Team are finalising the Stage 2A report for presentation to my Department.

Upon completion of this presentation and submission of the report, subject to no issues arising, this project will be authorised to proceed to Stage 2B - Detailed Design Stage which includes applications for Planning Permission, Fire Safety Certification, Disability Access Certification and the preparation of tender documents.

Due to competing demands on the Department's capital budget imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of additional school accommodation to meet increasing demographic requirements it was not possible to include this project in the 5 year construction programme announced in March 2012.

School building projects, including the project referred to by the Deputy, which were previously initiated but not included in the current five year construction programme will continue to be progressed to final planning stages in anticipation of the possibility of further funds being available to the Department in the future.

School Staffing

Questions (470)

Arthur Spring

Question:

470. Deputy Arthur Spring asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) was not offered a permanent position considering evidence provided and the appeals process available to the person. [43092/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The staffing and redeployment arrangements for primary schools for the 2014/15 school year are set out in Circular 0007/2014 and are available on the Department website. Under these arrangements schools that are given provisional approval for a teaching post on the basis of provisional enrolments in September 2014 must hold open one vacancy to cater for the redeployment of any surplus permanent teachers that arise later in 2014 (either in the school with the provisionally approved post or in a neighbouring school). Holding open a vacancy means that the teaching post can only be filled on a fixed term basis up to Friday 24 October, 2014. The post to which the Deputy refers was such a post, i.e., a developing school post approved on a provisional basis. Following the recent staffing appeals process the post was affirmed on a permanent basis. However, the post was required for the redeployment of a surplus permanent teacher in a neighbouring school. As a consequence the teacher appointed in a fixed term capacity was placed back on the Supplementary Panel, in accordance with redeployment arrangements.

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Questions (471)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

471. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) in County Donegal has had all the pupil's supports removed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43103/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I wish to advise the Deputy that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating a quantum of Special Needs Assistant (SNA) support for each school annually taking into account the assessed care needs of children qualifying for SNA support enrolled in the school. Where children have significant care needs whereby they may need additional support to be able to attend school, the NCSE may make an allocation of SNA support to the school to assist that child.

The NCSE operates within my Department's criteria in allocating such support. The criteria by which SNA support is allocated to pupils is set out in my Department's Circular 0030/2014.

The Circular explains that a key goal of SNA support is to help children to develop their independent living skills, and that continued and ongoing access to SNA support is generally not desirable for post-primary students, unless essential, as it can impede their independence and socialisation needs at an important developmental stage of their life.

Accordingly, whereas SNA support will be provided to post primary schools when required, only pupils with chronic and serious care needs will normally be allocated SNA support in post primary schools. In considering applications for SNA support from post primary schools the NCSE will take into account the importance of the requirement to allocate necessary care supports with the right of a child to acquire personal independence skills.

I understand that resource teaching support is still being provided for the pupil referred to in the Deputy's question.

Should the school wish to appeal their SNA allocation or to make a new application for SNA support on behalf of this child the school may make such an application to the NCSE. All schools have the names and contact details of their local SENO. Parents may also contact their local SENO directly to discuss their child's special educational needs, using the contact details available on www.ncse.ie.

School Transport Availability

Questions (472)

Jack Wall

Question:

472. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the concerns raised by parents in respect of school transport (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43120/14]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

Under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kms from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

In relation to school transport provision, ethos relates to religious ethos and is in the context of provision for minority religions.

Bus Éireann is responsible for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes. Bus Éireann endeavours, within available resources, to ensure that each eligible child has a reasonable level of school transport service in the context of the Scheme nationally. Routes, pick up/set down points and timetables are planned on the basis of the locations of children who are eligible for school transport only.

Bus Éireann who operate school transport on behalf of my Department has advised that the families in question are not eligible for school transport and are currently availing of transport on a concessionary basis; the full terms of such transport are available on my Department's/Bus Éireann's website.

Bus Éireann is satisfied that the current pick-up and set-down point is as safe as other pick-up / set-down points being used by pupils travelling under the school transport scheme throughout the country.

School Accommodation

Questions (473)

John O'Mahony

Question:

473. Deputy John O'Mahony asked the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of temporary or prefabricated school buildings at primary and second level currently in use in County Mayo and likely to be replaced in the next two years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43129/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

Details of Primary and Post-Primary schools in County Mayo that have rented prefab accommodation, together with the number of rented units in each school is attached for the Deputy's attention.

Schools that are included on my Department's 5 Year Capital Programme and Prefab Replacement Initiatives are highlighted, as these will have their temporary accommodation replaced with permanent buildings. Please note that a prefab unit may consist of one or more classrooms and/or ancillary accommodation.

Prefab rental in Primary & Post primary schools in Mayo - November 2014

Roll No.	School Name	County	Desc. of rental	Number of units per school
*07054L	Scoil Naomh Bríd	Mayo	Pre-fab	5
13659I	Bekan NS	Mayo	Pre-fab	1
13758K	Templemary NS	Mayo	Pre-fab	1
*14400S	Richmond NS	Mayo	Pre-fab	1
15539I	St Johns NS	Mayo	Pre-fab	1
*16170O	Cloghans NS	Mayo	Pre-fab	1
16173U	Kinaffe Ns	Mayo	Pre-fab	1
*16911H	Lahardane NS	Mayo	Pre-fab	1
**19375B	St Brid's Spec NS	Mayo	Pre-fab	3
20230F	Scoil Phadraig	Mayo	Pre-fab	4
**64570E	Our Lady's Sec School	Mayo	Pre-fab	5

* Included in Prefab Replacement Programme

** Included in 5 Year Programme

School Enrolments

Questions (474)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl

Question:

474. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to introduce proposals to address the issue of school enrolment; if her proposals will address the concerns in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43135/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

It is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. In this regard a Board of Management may find it necessary to restrict enrolment to children from a particular area or a particular age group or on the basis of some other criterion. The criteria to be applied by schools in such circumstances are a matter for the schools themselves.

This selection process and the enrolment policy on which it is based must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. Under section 15 (2) (d) of the Education Act 1998, each school is legally obliged to publish its enrolment policy.

Equality legislation, which also outlaws discrimination in relation to the admission of a student, makes provision for exemptions to apply in the case of single sex schools and in the case of schools where the objective is to provide education in an environment that promotes certain religious values. The legislation provides that any school that has this objective may admit a student of a particular religious denomination in preference to other students.

Section 29 of the Education Act 1998, provides parents with an appeal process where a board of management of a school or a person acting on behalf of the Board refuses enrolment to a student. Where a school refuses to enrol a pupil, the school is obliged to inform parents of their right under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 to appeal that decision to either the relevant Educational Training Board or to the Secretary General of my Department.

The Child and Family Agency, is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The Agency can be contacted at 01 6352854 or by E-mail at [e-mail].

The Deputy may be aware that Government gave approval in March of this year for drafting the Education (Admissions to Schools) Bill 2014 and drafting is currently underway.

The objective of the Admissions to School Bill is to provide an over-arching framework to ensure that how schools decide on who is enrolled and who is refused a place in schools is more structured, fair and transparent.

A key objective in designing the framework is to create greater confidence for parents that the admission criteria laid down by schools are legitimate, reasonable and fair.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio

Questions (475)

Stephen Donnelly

Question:

475. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Education and Skills the average class size, on an individual school basis, for national schools in County Wicklow based on the number of pupils in mainstream classes; the numbers of teaching teachers as returned in the national school annual census; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43159/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

Average class size is not readily calculated on an individual school basis. Below is a link to a spreadsheet that shows the number of pupils in each mainstream class and the number of mainstream class teachers for each primary school in county order. Data refers to 2013/14 school year. The 2014/15 National School Annual Census is currently ongoing. http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Statistics/Data-on-Individual-Schools/Class-Size-2013-2014.xls

Education and Training Boards Administration

Questions (476)

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

476. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a community training centre (details supplied) in County Louth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43168/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

This is an operational matter for the Louth Meath Education and Training Board. I have asked the ETB in question to contact the Deputy directly with the information he requested.

School Transport Eligibility

Questions (477)

Jim Daly

Question:

477. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a student attending Youthreach education aged 18 years old may avail of a concessionary school bus ticket on a route from Kinsale to Bandon, County Cork, noting the person is willing to pay for the ticket, noting there is no public transport available in the area, noting the student has not been absent from the education system for more that 12 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43229/14]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

A primary objective of the School Transport Scheme is to support the transport to and from school of children who would have difficulty travelling for reasons of distance to their nearest school if transport is not supported and to date this has been the sole focus of that scheme.School transport on a concessionary basis may be availed of where learners have entered a Youthreach programme directly from a mainstream post primary school or who have otherwise been participating in a Youthreach programme before reaching their 18th birthday.

If the Deputy wishes, the case in question can be further assessed if he contacts School Transport Section directly at 057 9325466/7 with the details of the learner in question.

Schools Building Projects Status

Questions (478)

Lucinda Creighton

Question:

478. Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Education and Skills the proposed and ongoing building programmes and new school establishment programmes in Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8. [43233/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

The current status of all projects on the school building programme, including those for the areas referred to by the Deputy, may be viewed on my Department's website at www.education.ie which is updated regularly throughout the year.

The Deputy will also be aware that the Five Year Construction Plan that was announced in March 2012 outlines the major school projects that are scheduled to commence construction over the duration of the Plan. These have been prioritised in areas where significant demographic need has been established, including areas referred to by the Deputy, so that our school system is in a position to cater for increasing pupil numbers. In that regard, my Department will also consider applications from individual schools for devolved funding to meet an immediate accommodation requirement because of increased enrolments or where an additional teacher has been appointed.

Further to the Five Year Plan, my Department is committed to publishing a detailed annual programme in relation to individual major school projects commencing construction. In this context, annual programmes have been published for 2012, 2013 and 2014. All three plans, including projects for the areas in question, are available on my Department's website. My Department expects to be in a position to announce details of the 2015 Plan towards year end.

In addition, due to additional funding made available for the schools' building programme as part of the Government's "Investing in Infrastructure and Jobs" package, 28 school projects that were not contained in the Five Year Plan but had completed extensive architectural planning are now being progressed to tender and construction. Details are available on the Department's website.

The Deputy will be aware that under my Department's Prefab Replacement Initiatives 2012 and 2013, in excess of €57 million was allocated to replace prefab units with permanent accommodation nationally. The list of schools approved under these prefab replacement schemes is available on my Department's website.

The Forward Planning Section of my Department continuously monitors and analyses demographic data for all areas of the country, including the areas referred to by the Deputy, to anticipate emerging needs and to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to meet those needs.

Departmental Properties

Questions (479)

Michael Creed

Question:

479. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will confirm ownership of a site (details supplied) in County Cork; her plans for the immediate use of this site; and if there are no such plans if her Department will consider permitting usage of the site by a local voluntary group; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43278/14]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

I can confirm to the Deputy that the site referred to is in my ownership.

In that regard, due to the need to retain this land for future educational provision, I regret that it is not possible to consent to the use of these lands for alternative purposes as proposed by the Deputy.

Demographic analysis by my Department confirms that there is significant projected additional demand for primary school places in the area concerned. Officials in my Department are currently examining how best to meet this additional demand and it would be important therefore to retain any lands in the area that are currently in my ownership to be in a position to provide any necessary primary school accommodation.

As you will appreciate, while my Department encourages schools to facilitate local groups to benefit from educational facilities where possible, priority must be given to educational provision to ensure that the Department can cater for current and projected increased enrolments into the future.

School Transport Provision

Questions (480)

Mick Wallace

Question:

480. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Education and Skills the school transport supports or allowances in place to assist parents and guardians of post-primary pupils at risk of early school leaving; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43313/14]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

The purpose of my Department's Post Primary 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 education centre.

Under the terms of the scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Children who are eligible for school transport pay an annual charge of €350 subject to a maximum of €650 per family per annum. This charge, which may be paid in two instalments in July and December, is a contribution towards the overall cost and does not reflect the true cost of providing school transport services.

Children who are eligible for school transport and who hold valid medical cards (GMS Scheme) are exempt from paying the annual charge.The terms of the School Transport Schemes are applied equitably on a national basis.

Leader Programmes Administration

Questions (481)

Gabrielle McFadden

Question:

481. Deputy Gabrielle McFadden asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when the 2014-2020 Leader programme will be finalised and activated. [42825/14]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

The draft operational programme for the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which includes LEADER, was submitted to the European Commission in July 2014. The approval of the Programme involves an iterative process between Ireland and the European Commission and it is hoped that the Programme will receive final approval before the end of 2014. In anticipation of Commission approval, my Department is progressing plans to undertake a comprehensive capacity building and selection process in order to ensure that the most robust, efficient and effective Local Development Strategies are selected for implementation. In addition, my Department is developing operational procedures and systems in order to ensure full compliance with EU and National rules and regulations. Notwithstanding the level of work to be done in advance of the programme becoming operational, I expect that it will begin by mid 2015.

Irish Water Funding

Questions (482)

Michael McGrath

Question:

482. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if a failure on the part of Irish Water to collect revenues due to it could result in a requirement for further equity capital to be injected into the company; if it will be provided by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42853/14]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

Irish Water's costs in the coming years will be funded through a mix of revenue from the domestic and non-domestic sector, third party finance (including bank lending and capital markets facilities) and State support which may be in the form of both equity and subvention.

Following a recent consultation process the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) announced its decision on the Water Charges Plan (WCP) proposed by Irish Water. The amount billed to domestic customers for the year 2015 based on the charging structure announced will be in the order of €300 million, while that for non-domestic customers will be in the order of €230 million. The funding model, based on the introduction of domestic charges, provides for more sustainable funding for the sector for the future and will allow Irish Water, like other commercial State bodies, to access capital for investment from commercial lenders. The collection of water charges revenue is of fundamental importance and failure to collect such revenues would adversely impact Irish Water’s capacity to accelerate necessary investment in public water infrastructure.

Local Authority Staff Remuneration

Questions (483)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

483. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if in the case of a UK local authority employee who applies for and receives a similar post in a local authority here he or she will be placed at the bottom of the local authority payscale in accordance with the rules for new entrants post 2009 or if the person's previous years of employment will be considered under EU or Irish legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43089/14]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

The appointment to an Irish local authority of persons who are not serving employees of an Irish local authority on or after 1 January 2011 must be at the minimum point of the scale.