Results 1-20 of 1,117,672 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Máiría Cahill OR speaker:Barry Cowen OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Richard O'Donoghue OR speaker:John Brady OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Gary Gannon OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Paul Murphy OR speaker:Michael McGrath OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Anne Rabbitte OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Emer Higgins OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Aindrias Moynihan OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Jennifer Murnane O'Connor OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Patrick Costello OR speaker:Michael Ring OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Christopher O'Sullivan) in 'Committee meetings'

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I begin by wishing the Chairman a speedy recovery. I am pleased to be here this morning together with officials from my Department. I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak with its members and ask for their consideration of the Department's Supplementary Estimates for 2024. Following approval by the Government, the Department is...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: On school secretaries and caretakers, the Deputy will be aware that all school secretaries who were keen to come onto the payroll of the Department of Education have now signed up and crossed over. They are now automatically paid by the Department of Education as distinct from receiving payment from their school board or through grants received by the board. I gave a commitment that a...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: Yes. As regards school transport, a number of recommendations came out of the review of school transport. A phased implementation of the review has begun, and that includes the pilot projects. We have funding in place to continue the pilot projects and add to them. Our ambition is, as we have outlined previously to this committee, to ensure that by 2030 we will have a further 100,000...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: Mr. Loftus is very keen to cover that one.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: I was giving the committee the opportunity to hear from the head of planning and building. The subhead is used to fund school accommodation. This is A15: to buy sites, deliver smaller scale works in schools, provide furniture and equipment and address remediation works. The current allocation subhead provides for grants towards rental of temporary school premises at primary and...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: By infrastructure, we mean school buildings, really, specifically the project roll-out of those school buildings. I am very happy to come back-----

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: Yes, absolutely.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: We have a forward planning unit within the Department and it is very successful. We now liaise with local authorities, for example, on their future projections. We also gather all the data that is necessary. It is a GIS system. We engage with child benefit and so on. As regards the figures we are talking about here, we have currently 350 projects on the ground at construction, and the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: 100%. We have a very strong record of being on time and on budget. I acknowledge the work of the planning and building unit and am here in the company of Mr. Loftus, but I also acknowledge the work of all those who work with the Department to ensure there is strong delivery.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: Yes.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: In the first instance I want to talk about the National Council for Special Education and how we have expanded it significantly. We made provision in the previous budget for an additional 160 staff and that they would be specifically people who were on the ground, such as the special needs organisers who are engaging directly on the ground with the schools. We also see it now as part of...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 26 - Education (Supplementary) (22 Oct 2024)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy very much.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Emer Higgins: I thank the committee for the opportunity to present our Department’s Supplementary Estimate to the members of the select committee this evening. As the Cathaoirleach did, I would like to use this opportunity to express the Minister's apologies for not being able to attend the committee today due to a family bereavement and to let him know his is in our thoughts and prayers. I know...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Emer Higgins: Yes, the Estimate includes the power up grant. This grant is being provided by the jobs and enterprise programme. The finer details of it are being worked out at the moment. The ambition is that we will have €4,000 straight into the accounts of SMEs in the retail and hospitality sector over the next couple of months between now and the end of this year. That is subject to the same...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Emer Higgins: PRSI is a matter for the Department of Social Protection but having said that, this is something which we are working closely with the Department on. Earlier this year, my Department, in collaboration with the Department of Social Protection, produced a report on the increased cost of doing business and PRSI was one of the things that was flagged in that. It is something on which there is...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Emer Higgins: They are savings for Enterprise Ireland and IDA. The Enterprise Ireland savings relate to two programmes, namely, the capital investment scheme for agriculture, which is something on which we work in collaboration with the Department of agriculture and the other one is the smart regions funding. I assure everybody we fully intend to fully draw down the EU ERDF funding for that scheme. We...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Emer Higgins: Correct.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 32 - Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Emer Higgins: It was due to the evaluation of the projects. We had so many applications that the evaluations took a little bit longer than expected.