Written Answers Nos. 252 - 261
252. Deputy Ciarán Lynch asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the concerns raised by a person (details supplied) regarding the allocation of special needs assistant hours; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27994/15]
View answerThe National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is responsible, through its network of local Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) for allocating resource teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) to schools to support children with special educational needs.
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.
It is important to note that each school's allocation of SNA support can change from year to year and may be increased or decreased as students who qualify for SNA support enrol or leave a school. New students with care needs may, or may not, enrol to replace students who have left, for example, or SNA allocations may be decreased where a child's care needs have diminished over time.
The deployment of SNAs within schools is then a matter for the individual Principal/Board of Management. SNAs should be deployed by the school in a manner which best meets the care support requirements of the children enrolled in the school for whom SNA support has been allocated. It is a matter for schools to allocate support as required, and on the basis of individual need, which allows schools flexibility in how the SNA support is utilised.
All schools were asked to apply for SNA support for the 2015/16 school year by 18th March 2015. The NCSE also continued to accept applications after this date in recognition that enrolments may not have been completed or where assessments were not completed.
The NCSE has now published details of SNA allocations for schools for September 2015 on its website.
Details of the manner in which a school or parent may appeal the level of SNA or resource teaching allocation which has been made to support a child in school, to the NCSE, is set out at www.ncse.ie.
All schools have the contact details of their local SENO, while 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.
253. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a Student Universal Support Ireland grant was refused to a person (details supplied) in County Cork; if she will clarify the eligibility of participants in the Tús work placement initiative and in the Gateway schemes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28025/15]
View answerThe Student Grant Appeals Board considered an appeal from the student referred to by the Deputy and upheld the original decision by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) on the grounds that the student's reckonable income was over the limit of €22,703 and she was therefore not eligible for the award of the special rate of grant.
Income from participation in Tús and Gateway schemes is included in calculating reckonable income.
254. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Skills if works at a school (details supplied) in County KIldare, for which tenders have been submitted to her Department, will be approved as a matter of urgency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28048/15]
View answerI am pleased to advise the Deputy that my Department provided grant aid to the school in question under the 2012 Prefab Replacement Scheme to construct three mainstream permanent classrooms. I understand that this building project has now been completed.
The school has recently submitted a further application for capital funding to my Department. My officials have been in contact with the school management in relation to the application and explained that further contact will be made with the school when the application has been assessed.
255. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will urgently address the issues raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding school transport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28051/15]
View answerUnder the terms of my Department's Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
A minimum number of 10 eligible children residing in a distinct locality, as determined by Bus Éireann, are required before consideration may be given to the establishment or retention of school transport services, provided this can be done within reasonable cost limits.
Bus Éireann has advised that, to date, the number of applicants for school transport for the 2015/16 school year has fallen below the minimum number required to retain the existing service.
Families of eligible children, for whom there is no school transport service available, are eligible for the remote area grant towards the cost of making private transport arrangements.
The terms of the scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.
256. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the current national policy on terms and conditions for teachers working in the adult literacy service; the circulars that exist for tutors and teachers working in the service; in view of this Deputy's understanding that they are registered with the Teaching Council as teachers, yet are classified as tutors by the education and training boards, his views that there is a disparity between the treatment of some adult education sectors, such as Youthreach and the vocational training opportunities scheme, and the treatment of others such as adult literacy, with literacy teachers currently working on low-hour contracts which do not reflect the hours they actually work; her further views that it is unfair that they have no access to the State pension scheme, no incremental scale and no paid leave or maternity leave entitlements; her views that this is a simple case of discrimination against teachers working within the adult literacy service; if she acknowledges that it is having a negative impact on students of the service due to unfavourable working conditions; if she will further acknowledge that many teachers in the service are being forced to take positions elsewhere, meaning that there is a constant roll-over of experienced staff, which has an administrative effect on the Department of Social Protection which has to sign-on, assess and sign-off over 1,000 literacy tutors every mid-term, Christmas, Easter and summer; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28127/15]
View answerThe Adult Literacy service is funded by my Department through SOLAS and delivered locally by Education and Training Boards (ETBs). Staff delivering adult literacy programmes are either paid tutors or unpaid volunteers. ETBs employ tutors to deliver the adult literacy programme and it is the ETBs that set out the terms and conditions of employment of the tutors they employ. My Department has not issued a circular in relation to the terms and conditions of staff in the Adult Literacy service.
Specific issues in relation to contracts for Adult Education Tutors were raised in the lead-in to the Haddington Road Agreement and were the subject of conciliation under the auspices of the LRC. The discussions encompassed people in non-teaching posts in Adult, Community and Further Education settings, outside of recognised schools. Under the Lansdowne Road Agreement the parties have re-affirmed their commitment to finalising this process as soon as practicable.
257. Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the purchase of a permanent site in respect of a school (details supplied) in County Meath; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28129/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that officials in my Department have been working with officials from Meath County Council in relation to the identification and acquisition of a suitable permanent site for the school to which she refers.
Subsequent to appraisal of options, a suitable site option has been identified and is being progressed. Given the commercial sensitivities associated with land acquisitions generally I am not in a position to comment further at this time.
I can, however, assure the Deputy that the acquisition of a new site for the school is a priority for my Department.
258. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will examine an application by the board of management of a school (details supplied) in County Kerry for a new-build school, as the old school was constructed in 1836, has long since outlived the purpose for which it was originally intended and is beyond reconstruction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28130/15]
View answerI can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers has recently applied to my Department for large scale capital funding to provide a new school building.
My Department has been in recent contact with the School in respect of their proposal and will be in a position to assess the proposal further when a response to the queries raised is received.
259. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to a previous parliamentary question, if she will clarify the contradiction in the e-mail received from her office on 20 May 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28188/15]
View answerThe criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on the Department's website. The staffing process includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent Appeals Board. The staffing arrangements for the 2015/16 school year (Circular 0005/2015), provides details for schools wishing to make an appeal.
As set out in the staffing circular, the Primary Staffing Appeals Board meets three times per year, in March, in May and in October. The Department has not received a staffing appeal from the school referred to by the Deputy for either the March or May 2015 meetings of the Appeals Board. The Appeals Board will meet to consider staffing appeals for the 2015/16 school year for the final time in October 2015. The deadline for receipt of applications to that meeting will be published in due course on the Department website.
260. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he has received representations from the road haulage industry under the umbrella of the Irish Road Haulage Association on the reduction of the road tax on heavy goods vehicles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28030/15]
View answerI met with the Irish Road Haulage Association in November 2014 and have received a number of representations on behalf of the Association. I have also responded to a number of parliamentary questions on road tax for the haulage industry in recent weeks. In that regard, I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 211, 212 and 213 of 17 June 2015, which sets out the position in the matter.
261. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount that heavy goods vehicles currently pay on road tax; if he will provide a breakdown by county for each of the years 2005 to 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28133/15]
View answerThe information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.
