Tánaiste announces €122m scheme to get building improvements underway in 1,490 schools this summer, generating work for over 4,400 people [education.ie]
- Published: 19 April 2010
"Summer Works Scheme funding of €122m will see major improvements in primary and post primary schools across the country" - Coughlan
1,490 primary and post primary schools across the country will benefit from small and medium scale building works this summer under a €122 million investment announced today (Monday, 19 April 2010) by the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D.
The Summer Works Scheme covers projects in school buildings such as gas, electrical and mechanical works, roof replacements and repairs, window replacement, toilet upgrades, structural improvements and access works.
The Tánaiste said that this record level of investment through the Summer Works Scheme had the potential to generate work for over 4,400 trades people across the country during the summer period.
Full Story: www.education.ie
Quinn says ownership of religious schools should go to state [tribune.ie]
- Published: 18 April 2010
THE 18 religious congregations, which were heavily criticised in the Ryan report into residential institutional abuse, should transfer the legal ownership of their schools to the state to help share the costs of the Redress Board, according to the Labour party's education spokesman Ruairi Quinn.
Quinn welcomed the government's decision that the congregations should share the costs of the Redress Board on a 50:50 basis. But as the religious orders need to find an extra €200m to reach this goal, he claimed that Labour in government would negotiate with the congregations to secure the transfer of the schools and educational infrastructure at no cost to the state. "This transfer by the religious congregations would go a long way towards making a fair and just contribution to the massive redress costs," said Quinn.
Full Story: www.tribune.ie
School ownership should transfer to State, says Quinn [IrishTimes]
- Published: 18 April 2010
REDRESS BOARDS: RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS should transfer legal ownership of their schools and educational infrastructure to the State, Labour education spokesman Ruairí Quinn has said.
This way they would fully share the costs of the institutional redress boards, without further financial burdens on their ageing communities, he said at the Labour party conference in Galway.
Mr Quinn told delegates the 18 religious congregations were only paying 10 per cent of the current €1.3 billion cost of the institutional redress boards, established to compensate the victims of abuse while under State care in religious-run institutions.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
LABOUR HITS OUT AT EDUCATION CUTBACKS AT CITY CONFERENCE [galwaynews.ie]
- Published: 17 April 2010
The Labour Party is calling for an increase in spending on education.
At its national conference in Galway today, it hit out at cutbacks to school funding.
It says our schools are overcrowded, with student numbers expected to increase to 600-thousand in the next ten years.
It's proposing a new school building programme, and it wants to increase education spending to 7 per cent of GDP over a five year period.
Labour demands new national forum on primary education [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 17 April 2010
The Labour Party is today demanding a new national forum on primary education to explore what to do about the issues of ethos and religious belief.
The party's national conference in Galway has heard calls for a primary education system that cherishes all the children of the nation equally.
The party is also demanding that every school building owned by the Catholic Church be handed over the State.
