Written Answers Nos. 254-261
255. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Education the progress made to date in providing alternative upgraded accommodation to a special school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61536/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department is currently assessing options with a view to identifying the optimum solution for the long-term needs of the school referred to by the Deputy. This includes the consideration of the proposal to relocate to an alternative site/campus and also of other potential solutions, with a view to making the most appropriate provision possible for the school and for its current and future students. The Department will be in further contact with the school in due course, when its assessment process is further advanced. The school should be assured that the provision of appropriate accommodation for the school in question is a priority for the Department.
256. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Education if the case of children (details supplied) who have no school transport will be addressed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61542/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m in 2021.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
Under the terms of my Department’s School Transport Scheme, children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2kms at primary as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Children who are eligible for school transport and who complete the application process on time are accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.
Bus Éireann has advised that the family referred to by the Deputy are eligible for school transport, however there is no service available from where these pupils reside to the schools they are attending.
Children who are eligible for school transport but for whom no service is available may be offered the Remote Area Grant towards the cost of making private transport arrangements. The Remote Area Grant is also payable for eligible children who may have to travel 3.2kms or more to or from a designated pick up/set down point.
The family referred to by the Deputy are eligible for a remote area grant from the commencement of 2018/2019 school year and correspondence issued to the family in this regard. Grants are paid at the end of the school year, and School Transport Section of my Department will liaise with the family directly.
257. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Education , further to Parliamentary Question No. 602 of 8 November 2022, when school transport will be facilitated in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61559/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the last school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m in 2021.
In July 2022, Government announced funding for the waiving of school transport scheme fees for the coming school year as part of a wider package of cost of living measures.
Ticket registration for the 2022/23 school year closed on 29 July by which time almost 130,000 applications/registrations were received for mainstream school transport. This figure includes 44,299 new applications as well as roll-overs from the previous school year.
Children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time have been accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.
Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who completed the application process on time, will be considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.
Bus Éireann has advised that an application has been received for the child referred to by the Deputy however, the ticket registration process has not been completed by the family. Bus Éireann will contact the family directly in relation to the application process.
258. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education if teachers in a Gaeltacht school lose any of their allowances where the parents vote to end the practice of immersive education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61566/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Policy for Gaeltacht Education aims to strengthen the provision of education through the medium of Irish in Gaeltacht language planning areas. As part of this Policy, the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme was established to provide additional targeted supports to schools in Gaeltacht language planning areas to fulfil language-based criteria so as to achieve recognition as a Gaeltacht school.
Schools in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme made the decision to participate in the Scheme following consultation with their patron, the teaching staff, the parents’ association and the local language-planning committee. The approval of the school’s board of management was also needed before the Department could consider a school’s application to participate in the Scheme.
In common with a number of job-role based allowances, sanction for payment to new beneficiaries of the Gaeltacht allowance was withdrawn from 1 February 2012 following a public service-wide review of all allowances carried out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. If a teacher was eligible for receipt of the allowance prior to 1 February 2012, they were entitled to keep it unless they left that job-role on or after 1 February 2012 on a voluntary basis.
The term of the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme was extended by two years to 2024 due to the impact of school closures as a result of the pandemic. Recognition as a Gaeltacht School has not been awarded to any school as of yet. Eligibility for the Gaeltacht allowance for teachers employed prior to 1 February 2012 is currently independent of their school’s participation in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme.
259. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Education the status of progress on a building project for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61567/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe project for Wexford Educate Together National School is part of a campus project for two schools in Wexford, the other school being Selskar College. The project is devolved for delivery to Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board (WWETB).
The Department received the final Stage 1 Report following a meeting with WWETB and its Design Team and understands that WWETB also shared this report with the Educate Together school authority. The Department is currently engaging with WWETB in relation to the options for progressing the delivery of both schools. While it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion of the project at this early stage, WWETB will continue to engage directly with the Wexford Educate Together school authority to keep them informed of progress.
260. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Education the funding that was provided to Limerick from her Department in 2022, broken down by project, in tabular form. [61574/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department’s gross voted allocation for 2022 amounts to some €10.2 billion. Eighty percent of the funding is for pay and pensions for the schools sector. It is also expended on the school transport scheme, the School Building Programme and on a range of other programmes. The table below sets out payments that issued from my Department directly to schools in County Limerick, as recorded on my Department’s Financial Management System for 2022 (up to early December). Payments to Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board, including those to meet school related payroll and other costs, are not included in the table.
I wish to point out also that the amounts shown in the table represent the payments by my Department to schools (excluding ETB schools) in County Limerick across a very broad range of headings. However they do not include payments made directly to those teaching and non-teaching staff in schools who are paid directly via the Department’s payroll system.
Summary of payments to schools in County Limerick, 2022 (year to early December)
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- |
Payments made directly to Schools in Limerick (excluding schools under management of Limerick and Clare ETB) |
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2022 (YTD) |
€63.7 million |
Note: excludes salaries for teaching and SNA staff, and Secretaries and Caretakers paid via the Department’s payroll system.
Expenditure on the School Building Programme in Limerick is included in the table above. The current position on all projects in the School Building Programme, as well as listing on a county basis the schools that have had large-scale projects completed from 2010 to date are published online by my Department. The information is updated regularly and is available here:
www.gov.ie/en/service/c5b56b-major-projects/#current-status-of-large-scale-projects.
261. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Social Protection if there is an additional pre-Christmas payment being made to pensioners who suffer with an illness related to their chest and who have to take medication for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61505/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn response to the ongoing cost of living pressures, I announced on Budget Day that my Department will spend approximately €1.2 billion on social welfare measures to help individuals and families through this difficult period. This included a range of double payments and lump sum payments that were targeted at those who are most vulnerable including older people, families, carers and those living with disabilities.
These measures include an Autumn Double Payment, which was paid in mid-October to over 1.4 million people, including pensioners.
In November, my Department paid a range of cost of living supports, which included:
- A €400 lump sum payment to all households in receipt of Fuel Allowance, many of whom are pensioners; and
- An additional €200 Lump Sum Payment to all persons in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance, the majority of whom are pensioners.
In December, the Christmas Bonus Double Payment will be paid to all Pensioners, Carers, Persons with Disabilities, One Parent Family Payment and other Social Protection recipients.
As we turn to 2023, I announced a €12 euro increase in weekly rates of payment for pensioners and people of working age to take effect from January 2023. This measure alone will cost almost €900 million euro. It is the largest Budget increase in weekly payments since the mid-2000s and was announced as part of the largest Social Protection Budget package in the history of the State.
I was very aware, when addressing my Budget priorities for 2023, that many older people fall just outside the qualifying criteria for Fuel Allowance and that this payment does not reach everybody. So, in Budget 2023, we focused on expanding the scheme to reach more households.
One of the reforms to the Fuel Allowance Scheme is that, from January 2023, a new means threshold will be introduced for people aged 70 years and over. The new means threshold will be €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple. Under the formula used to assess means for the Fuel Allowance for over 70s, the threshold for capital that is disregarded in the assessment will increase from €20,000 to €50,000. This is a significant expansion of the means threshold for those aged 70 or over.
As part of this measure, those aged over 70 no longer have to be in receipt of a qualifying Social Welfare payment to access the Fuel Allowance payment. However, to qualify for the Fuel Allowance, they will still have to satisfy all other relevant qualifying criteria.
This reform seeks to ensure that older people not currently in receipt of Fuel Allowance, but who are marginally outside the thresholds, will now be covered by the scheme. This reform is being made as older people can often be more vulnerable to the effects of energy poverty.
Other measures announced by Government in Budget 2023 - such as three energy credits worth €600 in total - will also assist pensioners.
If an individual or family are struggling with additional costs, Additional Needs Payments can provide help and support to people facing financial hardship. Under the scheme, the Department may make an Additional Needs Payment to people on a low income, whether they are working or receiving an income support, to meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
