Written Answers Nos. 437-453
437. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the status of a building project (details supplied) in County Roscommon, including when it will be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2977/16]
View answerThe school to which the Deputy refers is at an advanced stage of the tender process. The tender report for the project was recently submitted to my Department and is currently being assessed. When the assessment is completed my Department will be in contact with the school authorities in relation to the further progression of the project. It is anticipated that once the project commences on site it will take approximately 15 months to complete.
438. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline her plans for a new school building and community centre for a school (details supplied) in Dublin 5, given the recent announcement from Dublin City Council of the proposed 655 homes which are planned for Oscar Traynor Road. [2994/16]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department provided a purpose built building for the school in question in 2008. My Department, therefore, has no plans to replace or extend the building in the foreseeable future. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking places. In this regard, my Department is aware that there is existing capacity in primary schools in the Coolock/Darndale/Artane/Edenmore areas.
My Department carries out nationwide demographic exercises at primary and post primary level to determine where additional school accommodation is needed. A new primary school will open in September 2016 to serve the Drumcondra/Marino/Dublin 1 feeder area (which is adjacent to the feeder area in which Gaelscoil Cholmcille is situated) to cater for the demographic growth in that area. My Department will keep the demographic projections under ongoing review to take account of updated enrolment and child benefit data and also the impact of capacity increases to schools in these areas.
439. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Skills to provide funding for urgent repairs to a school (details supplied) in County Louth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3033/16]
View answer444. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Education and Skills to reconsider an application from a school (details supplied) in County Louth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3066/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 439 and 444 together.
The school to which the Deputy refers submitted three applications under the Emergency Works Scheme in the past year. The first of these was received on 22 December, 2014 seeking funding to replace leaking pipes and carry out electrical repairs. This application was approved and the grant has been paid in full.
The second application was received on 22nd December 2014 seeking funding to replace the fire alarm system but this application was refused as it was outside the scope of works that would qualify for funding under the terms of the Emergency Works Scheme.
The third application was received on the 9 June, 2015 seeking funding to replace the roof of the school building. This application was refused as it was also outside the scope of the Emergency Works Scheme. Following an appeal by the school in November, a grant was allocated to carry out repairs to the roof and the school was advised to apply under the Summer Works Scheme for a replacement roof as this is the appropriate Scheme under which funding could be available for this type of work. It is a condition of the Summer Works Scheme that schools apply for the most urgently needed works at their school. Under the current Summer Works Scheme, the school in question applied for an electrical upgrade.
It is not intended that the Emergency Works Scheme, which is for sudden and unforeseen emergencies, will be used to supplement previous applications under other schemes that have not been successful in securing funding in the current year or to replace any other schemes provided by my Department. The current offer of funding to the school to carry out repair works to its roof is consistent with this position and the fact that the replacement of a roof is outside the scope of the Emergencies Works Scheme.
440. Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to previous parliamentary questions to set out the course of action open to a person (details supplied) in County Dublin to have an incremental form signed by a school in Libya as there has been no progress to date, given that the precedence has been set by fellow colleagues who have received their increments; to assist this person in receiving increments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3048/16]
View answerAs previously indicated in my PQ reply of December 15 2015, the criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers under Circulars 29/2007 and 29/2010 was agreed in the first instance, under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council. This Council is comprised of representatives of the teacher unions, school management bodies, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and the Department of Education and Skills chaired by an official of the Workplace Relations Commission.
In order for qualified teachers to be awarded incremental credit for previous teaching service applicants must complete Section 1 of the application form (FORM INCCR) and request their previous school authority to complete Section 2. The completed application form must then be returned by the previous school authority to my Department in the case of teachers employed in primary, secondary or community and comprehensive schools or to the Chief Executive of the relevant Education and Training Board in the case of teachers employed in vocational schools or community colleges. My Department has no authority to compel school authorities to complete application forms on behalf of applicants.
As the terms of the scheme for the award of Incremental Credit are of general application to all teachers, I am sure you will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me as Minister to intervene in individual cases.
441. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Education and Skills to set out the status of an application for additional classroom, resource, learning support and special needs accommodation for a school (details supplied); when the application will be examined; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3052/16]
View answerI can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy has made an application to my Department for capital funding for the provision of additional school accommodation. The application is currently under consideration and my Department will be in contact with the school concerned in the matter shortly.
442. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills to review an application by a group (details supplied) in County Donegal to form a new secondary school in 2016, given the increase in students enrolled; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3060/16]
View answerI wish to clarify that my Department has not received an application to establish a new post-primary school in Co. Donegal. Contact has been made with my Department with regard to a proposal to establish an Irish-medium Aonad in an existing post-primary school in Sligo and this is under consideration by my Department.
443. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Education and Skills to reintroduce the Gaeltacht teaching allowance for teachers and the allowance for teaching through Irish; whether it is unfair that some teachers receive the allowances while colleagues in the same schools do not; the amount of money saved since the Government abolished the allowances for new entrants, post-2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3063/16]
View answerSince the beginning of the financial crisis, there has been a need to enact a number of measures to reduce public expenditure. The previous Government reduced the salaries and allowances payable to all new entrants to public service recruitment grades (including teachers) by 10% with effect from 1 January 2011 and required that such new entrants would start on the first point of the applicable salary scale.
Subsequently, following the public service-wide review of allowances and premium payments, the Government decided to withdraw or modify allowances for new beneficiary public servants with effect from 1 February 2012. Under this decision, certain allowances were withdrawn for new beneficiary teachers, including qualification allowances. However, the Government partially compensated for this by deciding that new entrant teachers would henceforth commence on a new salary scale which had a starting point higher than the starting point of the old scale.
These measures were implemented at a time of very difficult financial and budgetary circumstances for the State.
The figures sought by the Deputy in relation to the Gaeltacht and Teaching through Irish allowances to teachers are currently being compiled by my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy shortly.
Alleviation of the salary imbalance between those who entered the public service since 2011 and those who entered before that date began under the Haddington Road Agreement. Improved pay scales for post-1 January 2011 and post-1 February 2012 entrants to teaching were agreed and implemented under the terms of that Agreement. In addition, allowances payable to post-1 January 2011 entrants and such allowances as remain payable to post-1 February 2012 entrants were restored to pre-2011 levels.
The Lansdowne Road Agreement will, through salary increases and a reduction in the Pension-Related Deduction, begin the process of restoring the reductions to public service pay which were implemented over recent years. The issue of equalised pay scales was not one which could be resolved in the discussions which lead to the Agreement. However, the flat-rate increases contained in the Agreement will be proportionately more favourable to new entrants to teaching (who are lower on the pay scale) than to longer serving teachers. Circular letter 0066/2015 which issued in December 2015 sets out the revisions to the thresholds for the Pension Related Deduction from 2015 and revised salary scales for teachers which take effect from 1 January 2016.
445. Deputy Frank Feighan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the members of the board of management of school boards are obliged to be vetted. [3067/16]
View answerThe current arrangements for garda vetting of teaching and non-teaching school staff were introduced in September 2006. In late 2010, my Department issued Circular 0063/2010 which updated and clarified the requirements for Garda vetting as part of recruitment procedures for all teaching and non-teaching positions. This circular also set out the vetting requirements of non-employees such as volunteers, sports coaches etc. In relation to non-employees, the key criterion in determining whether a vetting requirement arises is whether the person will have or may have unsupervised access to children in the school. This would not normally be the case in the case of members of the board of management.
The existing Garda vetting arrangements for the recognised schools sector operate on a non-statutory basis. However, the Deputy will be aware that the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012, will, when commenced, put in place statutory requirements for vetting of persons involved in working with children and vulnerable adults, including those working in schools.
446. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will introduce a new funding stream and grant for schools to enable them to construct buildings such as general purpose halls; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3090/16]
View answerDue to the competing demands on my Department's capital budget imposed by the need to prioritise available funding for the provision of essential school classroom accommodation, it is not possible at this point to provide an indicative timeframe for the provision of funding towards General Purpose Halls.
447. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the status of an appeal for funding by a community college (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3092/16]
View answerThis appeal has been decided and additional funding to the amount of €5,750 in respect of DCG has been paid to the school's ETB in accordance with the normal arrangements. Letters were issued to Killorglin Community College on 23 October 2015, and Kerry ETB on the 18 November 2015 notifying them of the appeal decision.
448. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills to urgently examine and rectify the situation whereby a person holding a medical card is exempt from the fee for the leaving certificate and junior certificate examinations, but is not exempt from the fees for the mock examinations, given that the average cost of €115 to €140 is an extraordinary expense for low-income families, especially where more than one person is sitting an examination in the one year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3113/16]
View answerMock examinations are not part of the State examinations system. The decision to organise and/or charge for mock examinations is made at school level, and mock examinations are not a requirement of my Department. The Department would have no data relevant to the question.
449. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will approve an application for a summer works scheme given the urgent need to provide additional facilities at the school (details supplied) in County Cavan in 2015-16; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3116/16]
View answerI wish to confirm to the Deputy that my Department is in receipt of an application from the school in question under the Summer Works Scheme. Commensurate with the level of funding available for the Scheme, applications including that from the school concerned, will be assessed on a top down basis in accordance with the prioritisation criteria outlined in the governing Circular Letter for the Scheme. This Circular Letter (0055/2015), is available on my Department's website www.education.ie.
It is my intention to publish a list of successful applicants at the end of February/early March 2016.
450. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Education and Skills to set out the status of the site selection and construction of a three-school campus for schools (details supplied) in County Donegal; if provision will be made for a certain school at this campus; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3122/16]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware a technical inspection of a significant number of potential site options for the school accommodation to which he refers has been conducted by officials from my Department working with officials from Donegal County Council. My officials are currently considering the findings of this assessment and, with the assistance of the Local Authority, are clarifying technical issues raised with a view to ensuring that a preferred site option can be advanced as soon as possible.
The project for the schools referred to, including Gaelcholáiste Chineal Eoghain, is included in the 6 year construction programme that I announced last November, and is listed to proceed to tender and construction in the period 2019-21.
451. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills to set out in the lifetime of this Government the number of proposals managerial staff in any agency or managerial body under her remit put forward to alter the roll-out of public services which were delayed, postponed or abandoned as a result of non-co-operation by trade union representatives; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3171/16]
View answerAs the Deputy will appreciate, it is normal practice for my Department to consult extensively with the Education Partners in respect of the implementation of Educational policy. The Education Partners, through consultation and debate make a valuable contribution to policy implementation in the Education Sector. However, my Department does not collect or collate the type of data sought by the Deputy. If the Deputy has a query in relation to the implementation of a specific policy or proposal, he is welcome to contact my Department directly in this regard.
452. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Education and Skills when a decision will be made on an application for additional funding for a school building project (details supplied) in County Tipperary; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3219/16]
View answerI can confirm that the school referred to by the Deputy was approved funding by my Department in July 2014 for the provision of a Resource Room to meet their accommodation requirements. In addition, the school was also approved additional funding in December 2014 to address Health and Safety issues at the school. The school has now contacted my Department for further additional funding in relation to the project. This application is being considered and my Department will be in contact with the school in the matter shortly.
453. Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor asked the Minister for Education and Skills when Ballyowen Meadows new school building will be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3221/16]
View answerThe Major Building Project for this school is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, Stage 2(b) - Detailed Design, which includes the applications for Planning Permission, Fire Safety Certification, Disability Access Certification and the preparation of tender documentation. All statutory applications have been granted and the design team are in the process of completing the stage 2(b) tender documentation. Once the Stage 2(b) Tender documentation is submitted my Department will carry out its review of the project. Following completion of stage 2(b) and subject to no other issues arising the project will then be progressed to tender and construction.
