‘Real debate’ needed on decreasing spend on education, says minister [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 28 July 2011
A REAL debate is needed on Ireland’s falling spend on education compared to health and social welfare budgets, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has claimed.
He pointed to the changed proportions of Government spending under the three headings since 1996, including a fall in education’s share from 19% to 16%. In the same time, Mr Quinn told the MacGill Summer school in Glenties, health spending has risen from 21% to 25% and social welfare costs have gone from 22% to 36%.
"This dramatic shift has taken place without any real discourse about our national priorities. Perhaps it’s time that we initiated that debate," he said.
While the crisis has caused the welfare bill to soar, the minister said it is clear the state will have to make more resources available to maintain education quality. It is expected that there will be a growth of 100,000 in the number of full-time primary, second and third level students by 2018 from just over one million last year.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
Funding row shuts school for children with autism [Independent.ie]
- Published: 28 July 2011
A SCHOOL that provides specialist teaching for children with autism will close tomorrow after the education minister rejected new funding proposals.
Until now, the parents of the eight pupils at the Achieve ABA school in Donaghmede, Dublin, have funded much of their children's education themselves.
But because of mounting debts, they can no longer afford to do so. Parent Daniel O'Mahony, whose son Aidan (8) is a pupil, said that a funding shortfall has grown to €100,000 over recent years and they have been left with no choice but to close.
Mr O'Mahony, a chartered accountant, said he had costed proposals that showed their model of providing ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis) is more than 25pc cheaper than educating autistic children in special-needs schools.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Minister for Education and Skills publishes the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill, 2011 [education.ie]
- Published: 28 July 2011
Minister for Education and Skills publishes the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill, 2011
The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today published the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill, 2011, which provides for the amalgamation of bodies dealing with qualifications and quality assurance in education and training.
In approving the Bill, Government decided not to proceed with the implementation of the decision of the previous Government to dissolve the National University of Ireland.
The Bill provides for the amalgamation of the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI), the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) and the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC). The amalgamation is a key commitment in the Programme for Government and an important part of the Minister's reform agenda in the education sector. The new body will have the official title of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland (QQAAI) but may have a different operational title.
Full Story: www.education.ie
School welcomes admissions ruling [IrishTimes]
- Published: 27 July 2011
A CO Tipperary secondary school has welcomed a court judgment overturning an Equality Tribunal ruling that it had indirectly discriminated against a Traveller in its admission policy when it refused the boy a place at the school.
The board of management at CBS High School in Clonmel welcomed the decision by Judge Thomas Teehan to set aside a ruling by the tribunal in a case taken against the school by Mary Stokes on behalf of her son, John (13).
At Clonmel Circuit Court last Monday, the judge allowed the school’s appeal. The board of management said yesterday it was pleased the court had recognised the important role played by past pupils in the school’s success.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Third-level fees cannot be ruled out, says Quinn [IrishTimes]
- Published: 27 July 2011
MINISTER for Education Ruairí Quinn has again refused to rule out the return of college fees as he acknowledged the funding crisis in the higher education sector.
The Minister told yesterday’s meeting of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) the funding crisis in higher education will “not go away” for many years to come.Asked if new charges were planned he said: “I honestly can’t say. We are looking for efficiencies in the system at third level.
“I am not ruling anything in or out until we get into the detailed negotiations with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure . . . I have said to Brendan Howlin that I will deliver.”
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
