Parliamentary questions

National Security Committee

Gerry Adams

1. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach when the last meeting of the National Security Committee was held; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4296/15]

National Security Committee

Gerry Adams

2. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach the number of meetings of the National Security Committee that have taken place in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4297/15]

Commissions of Investigation

Micheál Martin

3. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the position regarding the letter he mentioned during the Order of Business on 28 January 2015 that he received from a legal firm in respect of the terms of reference for the commission of inquiry to be established following the Guerin report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5475/15]

Commissions of Investigation

Gerry Adams

4. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the correspondence he received on 8 December 2014, referred to during the Order of Business on 28 January 2015, from a legal firm (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15224/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Micheál Martin

5. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the Humanist Association of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6609/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Micheál Martin

6. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Atheist Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6610/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Micheál Martin

7. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with representatives of the Jewish faith and the Islamic community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6611/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Richard Boyd Barrett

8. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Atheist Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9978/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Joe Higgins

9. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Atheist Ireland. [12748/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Gerry Adams

10. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Atheist Ireland and their discussions on a blasphemy referendum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15221/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Gerry Adams

11. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meetings with leaders of faith communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15222/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Micheál Martin

12. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he has met religious leaders since the referendum campaign on marriage equality began; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19224/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Gerry Adams

13. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he has met any of the faith communities since the "Yes" vote in the marriage equality referendum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22945/15]

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Ruth Coppinger

14. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the last meeting he had with Atheist Ireland. [25818/15]

Student Accommodation

Charlie McConalogue

100. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address concerns that the combination of rising rental prices and lack of supply of accommodation for students attending third level institutions will prohibit a large proportion of students from living within a reasonable distance of their campus next year; and her plans to address the lack of supply of student accommodation. [26007/15]

Primary Online Database

Jonathan O'Brien

101. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide an update on the administration of her Department’s primary online database project, involving the collection and storage of information on children in the primary school system, including her plans to defund schools if they do not co-operate with the project, and her consultation with parents on information that is to be collected. [25912/15]

School Guidance Counsellors

Michael Fitzmaurice

102. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education and Skills in view of the impact of the Government’s decision in December 2011 to change the ex-quota status of the role of the guidance counsellor in second level schools, her plans to reverse this cut in the next budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25914/15]

Schools Health and Safety

Charlie McConalogue

103. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the recent survey (details supplied) carried out by the Irish Heart Foundation which researched the state of nutrition standards in post-primary schools and which found that 40% of the schools surveyed did not offer free, clean drinking water; and her plans to reform dietary and nutrition standards in secondary schools. [26008/15]

School Funding

Jonathan O'Brien

104. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider ring-fencing the current capitation grant rates for primary schools and introducing a supplementary system whereby schools may apply for additional capitation funding based on the condition of the school and other needs in order to introduce a fairer scheme and to address the higher expenditure older schools incur. [25913/15]

State Examinations

Charlie McConalogue

105. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the distress experienced by many students as a result of the difficult level of the leaving certificate mathematics ordinary level paper 1; if she has discussed the issue with the State Examinations Commission; if the commission has indicated that the marking scheme will reflect the difficulty level of the paper; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25810/15]

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Michael Fitzmaurice

106. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reverse the 15% cut in resource teaching hours imposed in 2012 upon individual students with special educational needs prior to piloting the model recommended by the National Council for Special Education; whether the pilot scheme will be introduced in the coming school year; to set out the number and percentage of schools in which it is proposed to run the pilot scheme; if she will restore the resource teaching hours allocated to each student with special educational needs to the levels pertaining in 2010 as an interim measure to ensure students with special educational needs are not adversely impacted while she experiments with the system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25765/15]

Student Support Schemes

Michael Fitzmaurice

107. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will increase the income threshold for the student support grant to compensate for the negative impact of the Government's austerity programme which has left tax-paying parents in what heretofore would have been considered good jobs unable to afford to send their children to college; if she will further amend the student support grant scheme to allow parents with a gross income of approximately €70,000 but who are going through insolvency or bankruptcy and who are only allowed approximately €28,000 living expenses to avail of the grant; her views on the children of such tax-paying parents being denied a college education as a result of the economic misfortune which has been imposed on their parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25769/15]

Education Expenditure

Clare Daly

108. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on Barnardos research stating that an extra €103 million per annum would ensure free primary education for all schoolchildren; her plans to deliver this important strategic investment in education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25699/15]

Schools Building Projects Applications

Thomas Pringle

109. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will meet representatives from a school (details supplied) in County Donegal, given that the school is in urgent need of a new building; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25808/15]

School Transport Eligibility

Charlie McConalogue

110. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the decision to remove free school transport for students from an area (details supplied) in County Donegal to their current secondary school; and if she will ensure the free school transport scheme rules provided by her Department for Bus Éireann for implementation are changed to ensure mountain passes which are not traversable in winter months will no longer used be in determining eligibility for free transport. [25809/15]

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Catherine Murphy

111. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the critical lack of autism spectrum disorder units for children in the north-western Kildare area; the measures she proposes to address this issue in the long term; if a satisfactory resolution in the case of a young student (details supplied) is being worked on; if so, the provision that will be made in this case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25823/15]

Student Support Schemes

Denis Naughten

112. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she has investigated the reason counties with the lowest disposable income have seen a significant drop-off in the number of students availing of a higher education grant; if it is the case that the grant is no longer sufficient to meet the costs for students who cannot commute to college; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25701/15]

English Language Training Organisations

Richard Boyd Barrett

113. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 203 of 17 June 2015, if it is appropriate that students from recently closed colleges such as MEC who had already paid fees are being offered a solution that involves them paying even more money to schools they had not been able to afford; if she is satisfied that Ireland's reputation as a destination for English language learning is not being damaged by this approach to both learning and finding solutions when problems such as these arise; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25821/15]

Education Policy

Ruth Coppinger

114. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the maintenance of religious beliefs as grounds for teachers and other workers in education to be refused employment or to be disciplined. [25806/15]

Institutes of Technology Staff

Jonathan O'Brien

115. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the practice within some institutes of technology of appointing chaplains and using public funds to do so without advertising, tendering or following public procurement or public appointment guidelines; the public funding that was used to pay for chaplain roles in 2012-13 and 2013-14; and her plans to rectify this. [25734/15]

School Completion Programme

Denis Naughten

116. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children who left a primary school in summer 2014 and who failed to enrol in a secondary school in September 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25702/15]

School Enrolments

Ruth Coppinger

117. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the use of religion to determine admission to schools. [25805/15]

Education and Training Provision

Thomas Pringle

118. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will be pushing for greater supports for lone parents from rural areas to access educational opportunities, including online courses, access to child care, supports for travelling to the place of education and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25807/15]

School Accommodation Provision

Mattie McGrath

119. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide, in tabular form, the number by county of prefabricated primary and post-primary school units being rented; the cost of same for the years 2011 to 2014 and for 2015 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25714/15]

Student Accommodation

Charlie McConalogue

120. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address concerns that the combination of rising rental prices and lack of supply of accommodation for students attending third level institutions will prohibit a large proportion of students living within a reasonable distance of their campus next year; and her plans to address this lack of supply of student accommodation. [25812/15]

Special Educational Needs Service Provision

Maureen O'Sullivan

121. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the extent of the engagement she has had with Middletown Centre for Autism and services offered to schoolchildren with autism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25794/15]

Summer Works Scheme Administration

Michael Fitzmaurice

122. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will be making provision for a summer works grant scheme for primary schools in the 2015-16 school year, sufficient to clear the backlog from 2014 as well as meeting the demands from additional national schools which will need works carried out in 2015; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25768/15]

Broadband Service Provision

Terence Flanagan

123. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the roll-out of high speed broadband for all primary and post-primary schools in Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25817/15]

School Patronage

Catherine Murphy

124. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the documents released to this Deputy under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (details supplied) that show a sustained increase of indicators utilised by her Department to determine the new school need over the past number of years in north Kildare; her further view on the evidence of recent years that also points to a very big increase in numbers looking for places in a Gaelscoil, multi-denominational or non-religious patronage models of education; her view that a new strategy is required to anticipate these continuing trends in north Kildare; if she will commit to initiating this process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25820/15]

Education Policy

Seán Kyne

125. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will report on the public consultation process on the new proposals for education in the Gaeltacht; when the process will be complete; a timeframe for the introduction of the proposals following the consideration of the consultation process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25755/15]

School Accommodation Provision

Michael Fitzmaurice

126. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide the additional accommodation that is urgently required by schools (details supplied) in counties Leitrim and Roscommon within the next 12 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25766/15]

Pupil-Teacher Ratio

Mattie McGrath

127. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the recommended pupil-teacher ratio for best practice; the extent to which this ratio is currently being exceeded at primary level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25715/15]

Education and Training Boards Administration

Paul Murphy

128. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the anti-bullying policies of the education and training boards; the policies in place to ensure employee consultation in the drafting of these policies; the frequency at which they are reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25815/15]

Education Expenditure

Jonathan O'Brien

129. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of a policy paper recently launched by Barnardos calling for an additional €103 million in education funding to provide a truly free primary education system; and her plans to move towards a primary schools system where parents do not pay towards the cost of books or transport. [25737/15]

School Staff

Michael Fitzmaurice

130. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Education and Skills in view of the fact that she has amended downwards the number of pupils required for the retention of teachers in two-teacher, three-teacher and four-teacher national schools, if she will consider reducing the numbers needed for the appointment of teachers in two-teacher, three-teacher and four-teacher schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25767/15]

Institutes of Technology

Jonathan O'Brien

131. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the results of a survey of academics in institutes of technology commissioned by the Irish Federation of University Teachers and the Teachers Union of Ireland that shows that lecturers are spending time on language and writing skills with students to the detriment of actual teaching time and that many international students are being recruited to courses despite not meeting course requirements; her plans to address this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25733/15]

Third Level Staff

Clare Daly

132. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills in view of the damage to the reputation of the National University of Ireland by recent high profile discrimination against female academic staff and applicants at the National University of Ireland Galway, if she will back the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union's call for an independent equality review. [25700/15]

Schools Health and Safety

Charlie McConalogue

133. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the recent survey (details supplied) carried out by the Irish Heart Foundation researching the state of nutrition standards in post-primary schools which found that 40% of schools surveyed did not offer free, clean drinking water; and her plans to reform dietary and nutrition standards in secondary schools. [25813/15]

Schools Site Acquisitions

Charlie McConalogue

134. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the purchase of a site for the three-school Crana College campus in Buncrana in County Donegal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25811/15]

Education Policy

Maureen O'Sullivan

135. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the concerns of many teachers regarding the impact the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will have on the education system here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25795/15]