Written Answers Nos. 187-195
187. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide the details of estrangement conditions set out in the student grant scheme; if other evidence of estrangement or independence will be considered suitable to have grants awarded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3115/15]
View answerFor student grants purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents or a legal guardian, or as independent mature students. A student may be assessed as an independent mature student if he or she has attained the age of 23 on the 1st of January of the year of first entry to an approved course or of re-entry following a break in studies of at least three years and is not ordinarily resident with his/her parents from the previous October. Otherwise he or she would continue to be assessed on the basis of parental income. Only in exceptional cases, where compelling evidence of estrangement from parents/guardians is provided, can candidates who are under 23 be assessed without reference to their parents/guardians income or address, Article 21(3)(b) of the Scheme refers. The assessment of a case of estrangement is carefully considered to ensure there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the exceptional circumstances pertaining in such cases genuinely exists. The type of evidence required is dependent on the applicant's individual circumstances. It is recognised that estrangement from one's parents will be as a consequence of specific and unique circumstances and thus the evidence to support that will be specific and unique to an applicant. In order that an awarding authority can satisfy itself that the conditions of the Student Grant Scheme are being met, the compelling independent evidence provided for each individual case must be consistent and corroborative in nature and demonstrate that there is genuine and irreconcilable estrangement.
188. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the fact that there has been a number of break-ins costing thousands of euro at a school (details supplied) in Dublin 24; her views on the resulting costs threatening services to children and that the school has CCTV needs; if she will grant emergency funding to the school to cover the situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3134/15]
View answerMy Department's Planning and Building Unit has no record of receiving an application for funding from the school referred to by the Deputy for security measures at the school. If the school in question considers that there are works of an emergency nature requiring attention it is open to the school authority to submit an application for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme. The main purpose of the scheme is to ensure the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are most in need of resources as a result of an emergency situation. Details of the scheme, together with an application form for grant assistance, can be accessed on my Department's website.
189. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 554 of 16 December 2014, her views on the way in which explanatory notes are recorded on the junior and leaving certificates (details supplied); her further views that this should be changed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3135/15]
View answerThe State Examinations Commission which has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the certificate examinations has recently responded to the Deputy on this matter on 12th January.
190. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Education and Skills the steps she is taking to ensure building work on a school (details supplied) in Dublin 15 commences soon so that first year students may enrol in the school in September 2016. [3139/15]
View answerThe major building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning - Stage 2(b). Planning permission and all other statutory approvals have been secured. Full tender documents and drawings have been completed by the design team. The project includes the construction of an access road to the permanent site along with the full suite of accommodation for a 1000 pupil post-primary school and an Enhanced Community Facility. Final details with regard to the specification of and planning compliance for the required access road have been submitted to the Local Authority for approval. Once these details have been approved, the project will proceed to tender stage.
The school in question opened for its first intake of first year students in September 2014 in interim accommodation in Blanchardstown. Provision is currently being made for a further intake of first year students in September 2015 at that location, pending the planned completion of the permanent accommodation in Tyrrelstown for September 2016.
191. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if and when a place on the Naas technology project FÁS course level 5 will be offered in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3147/15]
View answerThis is an operational matter for the Longford Westmeath Education and Training Board. I understand that the ETB in question wrote to you in December 2014 in response to your most recent Parliamentary Question on this matter. You should continue to liaise with the ETB, who are best placed to clarify the position for you.
192. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the new PCs for design and communication graphics will be installed in a secondary school (details supplied) in County Offaly in September 2015; when the school will receive confirmation of their delivery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3150/15]
View answerThe approximate sum of €6.5m is being made available from the Department of Education and Skills for the purchase of desktop and notebook PCs to over 400 post primary schools for Design and Communications Graphics (DCG). The Department of Education and Skills is procuring separately CAD software (currently anticipated that the relevant software will be Solidworks 2014 version). Funding will be made available to the relevant schools in February 2015 in the form of a grant. The grant is based on the average number of pupils who sat DCG in the Leaving Certificate in each particular school over the last three years plus funding for an additional PC for the DCG Department. Schools will order the PCs directly from the hardware supplier(s). The Software and hardware provider will work together to install the software on the Notebooks/Desktops prior to shipment of same to schools. A letter will issue to schools in the coming weeks detailing the process involved of which Colaiste Naomh Cormac will be included.
193. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills her plans for the provision of accommodation in respect of a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3158/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has been working in conjunction with Cork County Council to secure a site to provide permanent accommodation for the school to which the Deputy refers. Options have been identified and are under consideration but due to the commercial sensitivities around land acquisitions it would not be appropriate to provide any further information at this time. When a site has been secured, a project for the school in question will be progressed into the architectural planning process. In the meantime, my Department has approved the provision of additional temporary accommodation for the school to cater for increasing enrolments.
194. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department will facilitate a job sharing request at a school (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3175/15]
View answerTeacher allocations to all second level schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. In accordance with these rules each school management authority is required to organise its subject options within the limit of its approved teacher allocation. The deployment of teaching staff in the school, the range of subjects offered and ultimately the quality of teaching and learning are in the first instance a matter for the school management authorities. The staffing arrangements for the 2015/16 school year will be published on the Department website shortly.
The decision to approve a job-sharing application is a matter for the authorities of the employing school. In schools that have over-quota teachers, applications for job-sharing may be considered by the authorities of the schools concerned in the normal way. However if the school is over its staffing allocation the established rules do not allow for the automatic replacement of teachers approved for job-share arrangements. It is, of course, open to the school authority to apply to my Department for additional teaching hours by way of curricular concessions to cover part or all of the hours in respect of an approved job-sharing post. Each such application is considered on its merits. This position is no different from that pertaining in previous years.
195. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the case of a group of primary school teachers who appear to have missed out on payment of qualification allowances abolished after 2011 as they undertook a further year of study and who also have not received the new pay scale introduced from 2012 onwards for new teachers who were not in receipt of the qualification allowances (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3189/15]
View answerIn 2012 a public service-wide review of allowances was carried out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. As a result of the review, qualification allowances were abolished with effect from 1st February 2012. Department of Education and Skills Circular 0008/2013 outlines the effect of this decision on teachers. In Paragraph 12 of Circular 0008/2013 an exception is made in the case "where as at 5 December 2011, a teacher in employment on that date and eligible for receipt of a qualification allowance in respect of the post they held on that date, was actively undertaking a course of further study leading to an additional qualification, provided that the teacher does not cease to be a registered student on that course before its completion. Such individuals may apply to the Department/VEC (now ETB) as appropriate for a derogation from the general position within 3 months of the date of receipt of the award." Teachers who were not in employment in an Oireachtas funded post on 5 December 2011 and not eligible for receipt of a qualification allowance in respect of any teaching post on that date, do not qualify for payment of an allowance in respect of the qualification related to the course being undertaken at that time. The issues raised by the Deputy have been brought to the Teachers' Conciliation Council (TCC) by representatives of the teachers concerned and it would therefore not be appropriate to comment further until the issues have been deliberated on by that forum. The TCC is part of the scheme of Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme for Teachers, the purpose of which is to provide a means of dealing with claims and proposals relating to the salaries and terms and conditions of teachers. The Council is composed of representatives of the teacher representative bodies, school management, the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and is chaired by an official of the Labour Relations Commission.
