|
|
The Chief Executive Officer of the Tipperary Institute, Mr.Padraig Culbert, is temporally stepping aside from his currently held post of CEO, pending the outcome of a High Court ruling on October 6th next, regarding the terms of his present contract.
This decision by Mr.Culbert appears to pivot on disagreeing views in relation to certain terms of his present contract. Opinions appear to be at variance over whether the present contract ends next month, or whether it is a permanent contract and in a communication to his staff at Tipperary Institute, Mr Culbert states: “Unfortunately it has not been possible to agree as to which interpretation is correct”
Those close to this discord are at pains to stress that nothing whatsoever untoward has occurred and that the issue fully centres on a correct interpretation of Mr.Culbert’s contract.
This unfortunate news comes at a difficult time for the Tipp Institute, when a recent ill informed report from An Bord Snip (The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes) recently recommended the campus should be disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer and when, under his guidance, student numbers are expected to break the 1,000 mark for the first time this year.
In a statement on July 21st relating to the An Bord Snip report Mr Culbert said:
“We are disappointed with the recommendations in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, but we are in no way daunted by it. We are, instead, looking forward to and concentrating on, the new academic year, for which we have had record CAO applications for courses. We are also commencing the next phase of our development with the launch of our first masters degree course, as well as additional new courses, so this is an extremely exciting growth period for Tipperary Institute”.
An interim management system is expected to be put in place immediately at the T. I. until a satisfactory resolution between both parties can be agreed.
The Health Service Executive may be potentially driving parents to moneylenders in order to pay for the high cost of education. Chronic delays in payment still continue under the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Scheme 2009.
Deputy Noel Coonan in a statement to Thurles.Info this morning stated:
“I know HSE staff, including Community Welfare Officers, are working as hard as they can to process applications under the scheme and are to be commended, but the simple fact is that thousands of people in the Mid-West are still waiting on their payments. The majority of students will return to school in the next two weeks and parents are understandably desperate to source money to pay for uniforms and footwear.
This scheme has been an ongoing source of concern for families throughout the Summer and continues to cause undue distress. If the HSE had provided extra staff earlier than August, then this crisis could have been diverted. Time and time again, this Government and those who support it, in North Tipperary, are failing the people of this constituency.
The rising pressure on parents are causing some to turn to illegal moneylenders for help. This is the worst case scenario and while the HSE is doing its best, it’s unacceptable that this situation should have arisen in the first place.
Barnardos recently stated that parents are struggling to meet the high costs of ‘free’ education with uniforms costing up to €140 for primary school children and nearly €400 for secondary pupils, not including footwear. The children’s organisation is correct in saying that children should be sheltered from the worst effects of the recession, not made to bear the brunt of it.
The Back to School scheme remains open until the end of September. Many people are still coming to my office on a daily basis looking for applications forms. I will continue making representations on behalf of constituents to ensure payment is issued as soon as possible.
This Government should be reducing barriers to education, but it’s proving even more difficult for parents to fully equip children for their return to school this year”, concluded Deputy Coonan.
It was revealed last week that the HSE will be adding five staff to deal with the vast number of applications that remain unprocessed.
There has been a 39% increase in the number of applications received across the Mid-West bringing the figure to 12,500. By last weekend, it was estimated that 4,000 payments would be made.
 With Central Applications Office (CAO) points published yesterday, the latest downward trend in prices for rented accommodation will be welcome news for cash strapped parents and both new and returning college students.
A typical student renting a double-room in Dublin could now expect to save up to €1,000 on average, over the course of the coming academic year. Two-bedroom properties in counties Galway and Limerick are being offered at similar saving.
Rental accommodation is also continuing a downward spiral across Co.Tipperary both North and South, with costs down by 12.6% compared with this time last year. The average monthly rent in County Tipperary now stands at approximately €623, a drop of almost €100 monthly on the previous year, while the national average rent now stands at just over €800 per month,
All universities and many other education institutions provide on-campus student residences, in effect a ‘Student Village’ with standard services such as security, Internet coverage and parking etc.
Living with other students may help to offset loneliness and homesickness and if you wish to be right at the heart of college life, then on-campus accommodation is the place to be. Potential disadvantages, and there are a few, include distractions from study which is a feature of the average vibrant student village. There are likely also to be restrictions to your social life, by the prohibition of friends staying over or staying late.
The renting of ‘Digs’ or ‘Host Family’ accommodation is a good option for students who are young or living away from home for the first time. Besides having their own room, students are normally provided with morning and evening meals, and are generally treated as one of the family by those who provide this type of service. This type of accommodation also lifts certain worries by parents, who feel that students could neglect their overall well being.
Students who wish to be more independent will of course opt for finding renting private accommodation. This is the ideal form of residence if you wish to immerse yourself in the life and culture of the city/town where your college is located, and now with the drop in rents you should be able to find good quality accommodation at a reasonable price close to your college campus.
Word of warning however, be sure to familiarise yourself completely with the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants before entering into any rental agreement.
A visit to the housing section of www.citizensinformation.ie will assist with the latter and avoid problems later on.
 Deputy Noel Coonan has confirmed that five additional staff will be deployed to process the huge number of applications received under the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Scheme 2009. Parents are growing increasingly anxious with the delay in payment this year as the start of the next school year looms closer.
Deputy Coonan has warmly welcomed the extra resources, albeit at a late date.
Confirming the news to www.Thures.Info this morning Deputy Coonan stated:
“I’m glad that the Health Service Executive( HSE )will tackle the issue of the delay in issuing payments as it has been causing undue hardship and stress to parents. With school reopening in only a few weeks I welcome the extra resources although it is late in the day. HSE staff who are dealing with applications are working as hard as they can but their workload has increased dramatically this year.
The increase in the number of applications is a sign of the extreme economic hardship being experienced by some families throughout North Tipperary. The increase in school costs has also contributed significantly to their plight. Fianna Fáil has hiked up the cost of school transport significantly for the coming school year with a 79% increase in junior post-primary fees from €132 annually to a now crippling €300 per child. Senior post-primary pupils are also being hit with a 28% rise.
I have been making representations on a regular basis on behalf of distressed parents and I’m glad that my pleas are being acknowledged. There has already been a lot of confusion with the scheme this Summer. People didn’t know where they could get the forms as the local Community Welfare Officers did not take applications or queries this year. Applicants then didn’t know where they were to send the completed applications forms.
It is coming very close to the time when children will return to school and parents need to know if they will be getting the allowance so they can buy uniforms and footwear. Understandably, they are becoming increasingly concerned and anxious with the long processing time”, concluded Deputy Coonan.
Over the next three weeks, the HSE will be adding five staff from existing resources, thus increasing the capacity to deal with the vast number of applications that still have to be processed.
There have been 12,500 applications received under the scheme this year from the Mid-West region including North Tipperary, Clare and Limerick. Of these, it is hoped that 4,000 people will be paid by this coming weekend.
Note: The scheme does not close until September and applications are still arriving.
Last year, 8,981 applications were received over the full period of this scheme showing a significant increase this year.
The Back to School Clothing Scheme Unit lo-call number is 1890 252973.
The Leaving Certificate results for 2009 were revealed yesterday in Tipperary and although many students greeted their results with joy, relief and celebration, there will be those who feel utterly dejected. Despite giving the exams their best shot, they haven’t got the points they had hoped for and now must agonizingly wait to see what Central Applications Office ( CAO ) offers they will receive on Monday 17th, 2009.
If you are feeling disheartened, take some time out to put things in proper perspective and consider those in Irish society that, like Dr.Theodor Seuss, are dying to tell you “how lucky you are!”.
That’s right, lucky! Don’t believe me? Take a look at these facts and figures and you’ll see why!
International Adult Literacy Survey
 Mr Batt O’Keeffe TD please also take note.
In 1997, results from the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), developed in conjunction with the OECD, revealed that:
• 25% of the Irish adult population (that’s approximately 500,000 people) were found to have a Level 1 literacy ability (NALA: National Adult Literacy Agency). The literacy abilities of adults at Level 1 are so low, that they may, for example, find it difficult to follow information on a packet and be unable to figure out the correct amount of medication to give to their child. Nearly one fifth of the adults found to have a Level 1 literacy ability were aged between 16-25.
• A further 30% of Irish adults had a Level 2 literacy ability, which means that they could only deal with material that is very simple, clearly laid out and which does not require complex tasks (NALA).
Written Out, Written Off:
The report entitled “Written Out, Written Off ” (Barnardos, 2009) revealed that despite the economic ‘good times’, children from disadvantaged backgrounds “still face stark inequalities of opportunities and outcomes in education (Barnardos, 2009, p. 8). Here are some startling facts presented in the report, which may be deemed even more startling in light of the tidal wave of recent and prospective cuts in education:
• While 58 per cent of students from higher professional backgrounds achieve four or more honours grades in the Leaving Certificate, students from manual backgrounds are much less likely to achieve any honours. (Barnardos, 2009, p. 4).
• While over 90 per cent of young people with parent(s) in professional occupations complete the Leaving Certificate, just two-thirds of their counterparts from unskilled manual backgrounds do so. (Barnardos, 2009, p. 4).
• Over 70 per cent of young people from higher professional backgrounds progress to Higher Education within the first two years of leaving school (Fig 4.3). This compares to less than half of those from intermediate and other non-manual backgrounds and just 30 per cent of those from semi- and unskilled manual backgrounds. (Barnardos, 2009, p. 5).
• Early school leavers have a higher risk of committing or being convicted of a crime. A sample of prisoners in Mountjoy Prison indicated that 80 per cent had left school before the age of 16, 50 per cent had left before the age of 15, while 75 per cent had never sat a State examination. The costs associated with each prison place was €97,700 per year (2007 figures). (Barnardos, 2009, p. 9).
The Moral of the Story:
So why are you so lucky, even if your Leaving Cert. results aren’t what you hoped for?
The answer should be obvious.
There are thousands of men, women and children within Irish society that:
- Have never and will never be lucky enough to simply sit the Leaving Cert.
- Have and will not have the literacy abilities needed to sit any Leaving Certificate examination at any level.
- Receiving Leaving Cert. points, high or low, is a dream that has not and will never become a reality in their lifetime.
So if you are disheartened, or even if you are celebrating, please remember how lucky you are and as Dr. Seuss wisely points out:
“Thank goodness for all of the things you are not!
Thank goodness you’re not something someone forgot,
and left all alone in some punkerish place like a rusty tin coat hanger hanging in space.
That’s why I say
‘Don’t grumble! Don’t stew!
Some critters are much-much,
oh, ever so much-much,
so muchly much-much more unlucky than you!”
(Dr. Seuss, Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?, 1973).
|
Support Us Help keep Thurles.info online by donating below. Thank you.
Total Donated 2026: €300.00
Thank You!
Daily Thurles Mass Livestream
|
Recent Comments