Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

I am sure the Taoiseach is aware of the teacher fee refund scheme. In 2025, it is aimed at assisting teachers with upskilling and paying for some of their course fees or examination fees. The Department of education has informed me that courses that fall under that with regard to professional development for teachers include tackling disadvantage, discrimination and equality and promoting well-being. I am aware of a career guidance counsellor in a secondary school who has done a counselling course and is not qualifying for the refund scheme. I believe we need to look beyond just the teaching environment to teachers in an example like that, where they are upskilling to be able to help their students, particularly in a counselling or career guidance capacity. When we talk about well-being and the benefits to students outside of a purely teaching and learning environment, I believe it would be a good thing to encourage our teachers and to assist them in that. I ask that the scheme be looked at to see if counselling can fall in under the teacher fee-----

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