Written Answers Nos. 211 to 223
211. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of an application by a school (details supplied) in Dublin 5 for provision of an additional two classrooms, a staircase and a special needs toilet, given that enrolment numbers grew in September 2015 and are expected to grow further in September 2016, and that there is no available classroom space; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40992/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am pleased to advise the Deputy that my Department has approved funding to the school in question for additional accommodation. This decision has been conveyed to the school.
212. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to limit the number of pupils entering a school (details supplied) in County Dublin to 150 in each year; if this is not the case, the optimum number of students to be accepted per year going forward; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41001/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI wish to advise the Deputy that the matter of enrolment in individual schools is the responsibility of the managerial authority of those schools. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking places in an area. This may result, however, in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice. My Department has provided grant aid to the school in question to create additional classrooms within the school and I understand that reconfiguration work is currently in progress. In addition, the school recently installed additional temporary classrooms which will increase the school's student capacity.
213. Deputy John Perry asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the urgent requirement for a link building capital development project at St. Angela’s College in County Sligo, which had approved funding of €4.3 million in October 2010, but which had this funding put on hold by a Minister (details supplied) in November 2011. [41004/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs part of the budgetary process in November 2011 a Government decision was taken to concentrate available educational capital resources on delivering school places and to restrict investment in higher education infrastructure to legally binding contractual commitments that existed at that time. The project referred to by the Deputy had not reached the point of being a legally binding contractual commitment by November 2011. Going forward, the needs of the College will be considered in the context of capital resources available for the higher education sector and having regard to competing demands. In 2014, the College received approval to carry out necessary health and safety works. The approved funding has been drawn down.
214. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the regulations of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, to implement in respect of situations where a student who was applying for a third level grant receives an inheritance, and this amount is deemed to be income in one particular year and makes the person ineligible for a grant from SUSI, whereas certain Departments treat an inheritance as a capital receipt, and not as income, and in other situations such as the Department of Social Protection, it can be averaged out over three years so as not to distort a person's income based on a once-off receipt in any one year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41018/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraArticle 24(6) of the Student Grant Scheme 2015 provides that gifts or inheritances received in the reference period will be included as reckonable income. If any of the persons whose income is under consideration received a gift or an inheritance in the reference period, these are included in reckonable income, unless in the case of an independent student, the gift or inheritance was between the applicant and his or her spouse, civil partner or cohabitant; or in the case of a dependent student, the gift or inheritance was between parents or to the applicant from his or her parent(s). I have no plans to change the current arrangements in relation to the treatment of gifts or inheritance for student grants purposes.
215. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding a student grant appeal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41031/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraFor 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 1 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. 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. I understand that the student referred to by the Deputy has been refused a grant from the Louth Meath ETB awarding authority and this decision has been recently upheld by the Appeals Officer of that authority. The student can further appeal this decision to the independent Student Grant Appeals Board within the required timeframe.
216. Deputy Frank Feighan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of school transport for a child (detals supplied) in County Roscommon. [41096/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn general, children with special educational needs are eligible for school transport if they are attending the nearest recognised mainstream school or unit that is or can be resourced, to meet their special educational needs under Department of Education and Skills' criteria. Eligibility is determined following consultation with the National Council for Special Education through its network of Special Education Needs Organisers. The child referred to by the Deputy is not eligible for school transport as he is not attending the nearest school that is or can be resourced, to meet his special educational needs.Children who are not eligible for school transport may avail of transport on a concessionary basis subject to a number of conditions including that there is spare capacity on the service and the appropriate annual charge is paid. Bus Éireann has confirmed that the child in question is currently availing of transport on a concessionary basis.
217. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if privacy impact assessments have been undertaken in relation to the primary online database and the post-primary online database; if so, by whom; if she will publish the assessments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41103/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraBoth privacy and data protection issues were considered and addressed in the development of both the Primary Online Database and the Post-Primary Online Database. However formal privacy impact assessments were not used in the development of these databases.
218. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Skills for details of the decision by the Primary Staffing Appeals Board to an appeal by a school (details supplied) in County Roscommon; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41107/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe criteria used for the allocation of teachers to primary schools is published annually on the website of the Department of Education and Skills. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. An appeals process is available to small schools in the event that they can show that their projected enrolments are sufficient to allow them to retain their classroom teacher in the longer term. The staffing and appeal arrangements are set out in Circular 0005/2015 which is available on the Department website. The school referred to by the Deputy submitted a staffing appeal to the October 2015 meeting of the Primary Staffing Appeals Board. The Appeals Board determined that the appeal did not satisfy the published criteria as set out in Circular 0005/2015. The school has been informed of this decision. The Primary Staffing Appeals Board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final.
219. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has met with the board of management of a school (details supplied) in County Donegal, along with the design team, for the stage 2a stakeholder meeting, as part of the planning process of a building project; if the project has been authorised to stage 2b - detailed design stage; when construction will commence; if she is aware of the urgent need to have this project completed, given of the school's increasing enrolment numbers, as well as recent flooding in the vicinity of the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41116/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe school building project to which the Deputy refers is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, completing Stage 2a - Developed Design Stage. The Stage 2a Report has recently been received and is currently being reviewed by my Department. Following this review, and subject to no issues arising, the project will be authorised to progress to Stage 2b – Detailed Design Stage which includes the applications for Fire Cert and Disability Access Cert and the preparation of Tender Documents. Planning permission has already been secured. This project is included in the six year capital investment programme, which I announced on Tuesday of this week. The project is listed to to proceed to construction in 2017.
220. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she will support an application by a school (details supplied) in Dublin 5 for additional accommodation, as a matter of priority; her views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41120/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am pleased to advise the Deputy that my Department has approved funding to the school in question for additional accommodation. This decision has been conveyed to the school.
221. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on correspondence regarding access to second level schools for a family (details supplied) in Dublin 9, who are being discriminated against due to stringent enrolment policies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41121/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. The enrolment policy must be non-discriminatory and must be applied fairly in respect of all applicants. My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents can choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available the pupil should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available a selection process may be necessary. 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. However, this may result in some pupils not obtaining a place in the school of their first choice. Under the Equal Status Act schools are not permitted to discriminate against an applicant for admission on any of the grounds set out in the Act. However, the Act 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 an educational establishment does not discriminate where the establishment is a school providing primary or post-primary education to students and the objective of the school is to provide education in an environment which promotes certain religious values, it admits persons of a particular religious denomination in preference to others or it refuses to admit as a student a person who is not of that denomination and, in the case of a refusal, it is proved that the refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school.Schools that comply with the requirements of the equality legislation do not therefore discriminate on religious grounds. Section 29 of the Education Act, 1998 provides for an appeal by a parent or guardian to the Secretary General of my Department, or in the case of an Educational Training Board (ETB) school to the ETB in the first instance, where a Board of Management of a school, or a person acting on behalf of the Board, refuses to enrol a student in a school, expels a student or suspends a student for 20 or more days in any school year. Application forms for taking a section 29 appeal are available on my Department's website or by contacting Section 29 Administration Unit at 0761 108584 or by emailing section29@education.gov.ie. The Educational Welfare Service of the Child and Family Agency (EWS) is the statutory agency which can assist parents who are experiencing difficulty in securing a school place for their child. The EWS can be contacted at 01-8738700. The Education (Admission to Schools) Bill, which was published in April of this year, provides 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. The Bill does not propose changes to the existing equality legislation. However, the Bill provides for schools to explicitly state in the school's admission policy that it will not discriminate against an applicant for admission on the grounds of disability, special educational needs, sexual orientation, family status, membership of the traveller community, race, civil status, gender or religion while including provision for single sex schools and denominational schools to reflect, in their admission policy, the exemptions applicable to such schools under equality legislation. The Bill also provides for schools to publish an enrolment policy which will include details of the school's arrangements for students who do not want to attend religious instruction.
222. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the Bara judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered last month (details supplied); if the information in any of the databases assembled and processed by her Department towards the administration of the primary online database, or the post-primary online database, was gathered using personal data previously collected and held by the State towards a different purpose; if persons whose personal data was gathered in such manner have been notified of the transfer of their data in all such cases; if not, her views that all such databases are now illegal in view of the Bara judgment; the measures she proposes to address this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41126/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is aware of the recent judgement from the European Court of Justice in the Bara case. My Department is seeking advice to determine the implications, if any, for the Primary Online Database and Post-Primary Online Database. The Deputy should be aware that my Department has previously prepared Fair Processing Notices for the information of parents, students and schools regarding the personal data of students returned by primary and post-primary schools to my Department via the Primary Online Database and Post-Primary Online Database. The Fair Processing Notice for primary data is contained in circular 17/2014 and in circular 47/2010 for post-primary data, both of which may be accessed on www.education.ie.
