55. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria used by education training boards when moving VTOS positions to different parts of the county, with particular reference to a move of a number of positions from Tallaght to Balbriggan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29673/14]
69. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of third level students who registered as students in universities and institutes of technology during each of the past ten years; the number of these students who dropped out in the first semester during each of the past ten years in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28776/14]
88. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason teachers who graduated with the Department of Education commercial teachers diploma are not treated equitably in the PCW agreement and its implementation in circular letter, CL18/97; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28741/14]
75. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who were awarded Student Universal Support Ireland fee and maintenance grants for the 2013/14 academic year; the number of these students who were subsequently informed they were not entitled to same; the number of these students who have been told they will have to refund moneys to SUSI; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28581/14]
188. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of school patrons that sold land or school buildings during each of the past ten years; the details of the sale; and the amount of money that was received by his Department as a result. [28379/14]
174. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has commissioned a White Paper on divestment of patronage in schools; the persons tasked to draft this paper; the date on which it will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28060/14]
171. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason persons refused a Student Universal Support Ireland grant in the first instance due to an error made on the part of SUSI are compelled to enter the appeals process; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are persons entering PPC1 courses who will miss the deadline to have their fees paid as a result of this unfair procedure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28021/14]
84. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the towns and areas that were surveyed regarding divestment of patronage of local schools; the number of persons surveyed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27638/14]
83. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the ALBA course in All Hallows College, a BA in personal and professional development, is closing to new entrants; if he is working with other third level institutions to ensure that such a course is available elsewhere in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27635/14]
698. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the cost of administrative overheads for the compilation and development of the Better Outcomes: Brighter Futures national policy framework for children and young persons 2014-2020. [26616/14]
219. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the mechanism to ensure the best expertise will be available to the teacher education section, junior cycle for teachers and national induction programme for teachers, considering that his Department is imposing a limit on the number of years a teacher can spend on secondment. [27174/14]
210. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the future of special needs school services provided by an association (details supplied) in County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27004/14]
785. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide an update on the implementation of the national early years access initiative and the area-based childhood ABC programme. [25236/14]
260. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reasons third level institutions are allowed to ring-fence vacancies for persons currently employed in other educational institutions here. [25971/14]
230. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of GDP spent on early years education during each of the past ten years. [25346/14]
227. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of 15 year old students performing at or below level 1 in PISA reading literacy and numeracy tests during each of the past five years. [25321/14]
226. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of 15 year old students performing at or above level 4 in PISA reading literacy and numeracy tests during each of the past five years. [25320/14]
225. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who took higher levels maths in the leaving certificate during each of the past five years, including 2014. [25319/14]
224. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who took higher levels maths in the junior certificate during each of the past five years, including 2014. [25318/14]
223. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the improvement that has been made in improving retention rates for students in second level schools. [25317/14]
222. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of children performing at level 1 or lower in the national assessment of mathematics and English reading in second class and sixth class during each of the past seven years. [25316/14]
221. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of primary school children performing at level 3 or higher in the national assessment of mathematics and English reading in second class and sixth class during each of the past seven years. [25315/14]
220. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on his Department's goal to improve the oral language competence of young children in early childhood care and education settings and its readiness to develop early mathematical language and ideas; and the mechanism used to measure same. [25314/14]
83. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children in primary school and the number of children in secondary school who used laptops and tablets instead of hard copy school books during each of the past ten years. [24988/14]
82. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children attending secondary school during each of the past ten years. [24987/14]
81. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children attending primary school during each of the past ten years. [24986/14]
78. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the value of sales of school books during each of the past ten years. [24994/14]
48. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a club (details supplied) in Dublin 12 has been informed that it may not allow anyone who holds a leaving certificate applied to do a local training initiative, LTI; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this is not the case in other parts of Dublin or the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24834/14]
504. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Health if he will ensure that Fampyra will be made available on the medical card; and his plans to ensure that those who have benefited from Fampyra may continue to take this drug regardless of financial circumstances. [24364/14]
260. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason St. John Bosco Youth Centre, Davitt Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12 has been blocked from allowing 30 young persons to start on courses by a person (details supplied); if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the courses provide a full certificate FETAC level 4 for students who are mostly early school leavers; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that current guidelines do not state that there must be a minimum number of students participating; the reason they are not allowed accept students who are age 17 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24694/14]
247. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a breakdown of the services that Quality and Qualifications Ireland will offer for legacy voluntary providers who apply to re-engage and who pay a fee for this service. [24631/14]
246. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the exact fee that Quality and Qualifications Ireland proposes for re-engagement with legacy voluntary providers. [24630/14]
234. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason he will not provide an additional teacher to accommodate the new junior infants class in a school (details supplied) in County Dublin, in view of the increase in numbers of children in the local area; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the lack of school places means that some families have had to include children in three different schools and the hardship this is causing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24493/14]
232. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has issued any guidance to the State Examinations Commission regarding the timeframe in which it must reply to parliamentary questions. [24401/14]
224. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the terms of reference the taskforce designated to look at the issue of the closure of private English language schools has been given; the membership of this taskforce; and the date on which it will deliver a report to him. [24342/14]
221. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason his Department has not approved funding for a single teaching resource required to allow 29 children in the Sligo region the opportunity to receive the best possible primary education through their first national language of Irish as chosen by their parents; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the school in which these children are enrolled for the school year beginning September 2014 is a school (details supplied) in County Sligo, which is the only Gaelscoil in the county; that there are 59 children in total enrolled for the coming junior infants year, with school enrolment policy giving preference to siblings of existing or past pupils and as the school has presently only one teaching resource for junior infants class, this means that the choice of the parents of these 29 children cannot be catered for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24292/14]
220. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the security studies FETAC award level 6 in GTI Galway this September; the reasons GTI will not know if it is running the course until August; his views on whether this is the way students should be treated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24290/14]
219. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the proposed total contact hours in the new junior cycle courses; the current number of class contact hours in the versions being used at the moment, set out in tabular form. [24269/14]
218. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the new junior cycle science course is being allocated a total of 200 hours of class contact time over three years, having been reduced from the current junior cycle science syllabus which recommends 240-270 hours class contact time. [24268/14]
36. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the board of management of a school (details supplied), with the support of parents and staff, has decided to enrol a junior infants class for September 2014 in order to secure the long-term future of the school in a situation of falling numbers of pupils and the school being only allowed to take students at second class; if he is aware that this enrolment decision did not receive the permission of the trustees or the patron; if he will accept the right of parents to choose what school their child can attend; if he will provide the necessary support for the school to implement the new policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23276/14]
26. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a school (details supplied) has had a manager in place managing the school, and not a board of management, for over a year; the reason the manager of the school has reversed the decision to take in three first year classes for September 2015 and is now only enrolling two first year classes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23278/14]
25. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will approve an application by a school (details supplied) to set up a new gaelcholáiste on the northside of Cork city to cater for the increase in the number of children attending primary education taught through the medium of Irish and parents who want their children to be educated through Irish. [23279/14]
20. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that all children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties are provided with the assistance needed for the leaving certificate this year. [23275/14]
9. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that his Department will give permission for a school (details supplied) to enter into a five-year lease agreement with NCE campus in Farranferris, County Cork; if a funding application by the school to fit out additional classrooms needed as a result of a large increase in student numbers in September 2014 and to provide a suitable play area will be granted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23277/14]
5. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views that the recently published Further Education and Training Strategy 2014-19 will neglect non-tech or non-business related further education. [23452/14]
2. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the changes he has made to the criteria for allocating special needs assistants have made it more difficult for children to access SNA help when they need it and if he will review these changes. [23451/14]
886. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Health if he will ensure that the Health Service Executive provides funding to clear a backlog in the waiting list for bariatric surgery in Loughlinstown weight management clinic; if he is on target to honour his commitment to ensure the waiting list for bariatric surgery is reduced to one year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23007/14]
528. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he has directed Irish Water on the matter of water allocation for under 18 year olds that will be delivered in the many Gaeltacht areas where local Mná Tí open their houses for the summer months to students from outside Gaeltacht areas who wish to improve their spoken Gaeilge. [22437/14]
351. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Social Protection the geographic areas where landlords may not accept rent allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22170/14]
307. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that CTC workers have agreements in place with IACTO-SOLAS on collective issues such as redundancies and annual leave but they have been informed that his Department will not honour these agreements as was the experience in an organisation (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will commit to ensuring that negotiated agreements are honoured. [23344/14]