Archive for May 2016 | Monthly archive page
Transcript below:
Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills if the updated action plan for educational inclusion will examine the possibility of increasing the designation status of delivering equality of opportunity in schools school to incorporate more schools into the scheme. [10710/16]
Deputy Richard Bruton: The action plan for educational inclusion, known as DEIS, was published in 2005 and now provides support to 836 schools serving a total of 169,500 pupils. There are 103,233 pupils in 646 schools at primary level and 66,237 students in 190 schools at secondary level.
The DEIS programme has been implemented in partnership with schools and other Government Departments and agencies such as Tusla, which manages the home school community liaison and school completion programmes, and the Department of Social Protection, which is responsible for the school meals programme.
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Transcript below:
8. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware of the integrated preschool unit at a school (details supplied); his plans to ensure its survival at that location and to expand services of this nature further to more communities. [10709/16]
Deputy Richard Bruton: On the specific preschool referred to by the Deputy, I understand the community facilities provided on the site in question initially provided accommodation for a preschool but that, following its closure, a new preschool has been opened in two classrooms in the school. It should be noted that under Circular 16/05, issued in 2005 on the use of school premises during the school day for purposes other than regular school business, the prior approval of the Minister should have been sought in order that the overall needs of the school could be accommodated. Proposals to the Minister to allow use of accommodation during the school day have been facilitated in the past, provided a school’s current and future accommodation needs are not compromised and the consent of the patron has been received. In the case of Holywell national school, future accommodation needs for the primary school intake will take precedence over the needs of the preschool. A proposal from the school concerned will be considered in that regard.
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Clare Daly was among a delegation of five TD’s who earlier today visited anti-water charges activists Sean Doyle and Eamon McGrath in Cloverhill Prison. The two Wicklow men have been imprisoned since May 9th because they refuse to accept bail conditions which they believe restrict their right to peacefully protest against the installation of water meters.
Speaking from outside Cloverhill Prison Clare Daly said,
“It is outrageous that two men in their sixties, both with serious medical conditions, have already spent almost two weeks in jail because they peacefully protested against water meter installations. While the men are currently in good spirits and remain defiant there are serious concerns about the impact of a long imprisonment on their health.
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Statement from Clare Daly TD re: GSOC report into the leaking of information about her arrest by An Garda Síochána
I welcome the publication of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission report following their investigation into the leaking to the media of information about my arrest on 29 January 2013. The report concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, some of the details relating to my arrest came from within An Garda Siochána and were made available to the media in an unauthorised manner. I also welcome the acknowledgement that my right to privacy and the presumption of innocence were infringed by these leaks.
I believe that the leaking of information about my arrest, coming as it did at the height of a period during which I was working to expose Garda malpractice, was a deliberate attempt to damage me, and to distract from the issues.
While I compliment the work of GSOC staff, the investigation highlights the limitations placed on the investigative powers available to the Commission by legislation – for example it took almost three-and-a-half years for the investigation to come to a conclusion, in part because of stonewalling and non-cooperation by An Garda Síochána.
In relation to my complaint, I asked GSOC to establish if the information which made its way into the media concerning this incident came from within the ranks of An Garda Síochána. I note with interest that this is precisely what the Commission concluded.