Results 1-20 of 5,928 for speaker:Michael Moynihan

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: There is a meeting taking place today with the school and school patrons to try to resolve the issue. Without putting words in anybody's mouth, I know the school authorities and the Department have been in contact and they will have a meeting today. Let us see what happens with that. I would be only too delighted to bring back any information to the Deputies by email or otherwise when we...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: I thank the Deputies for raising this issue, and I fully accept and understand the genuineness with which it is raised. I fully accept the Deputies' bona fides in respect of this issue. The Government is fully committed to supporting all children with additional needs to achieve their full potential. It is a core priority of the work of the Department of education that every child...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: I thank Deputies Doherty and Mac Lochlainn for raising this issue. I understand the apology made by our colleague, Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher. I recognise the Deputies' dedication to the people of Donegal and to the issue. I will first address the issue of locations for the surgical hubs. The programme for Government commits to establishing six new hubs, in south Dublin, north...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Hospital Services (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Again, I thank Deputies Doherty and Mac Lochlainn for raising the issue. I will take back exactly what they have said regarding Letterkenny University Hospital. The information I have is very clear. No decision has been made on the location of the north-west surgical hubs. I understand meetings were held and there was engagement with the Minister last night on this issue. I hear what...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: I would like to thank the deputy for the question. The SET allocation model is designed to distribute additional teaching resources across the entire school system. This is to ensure that additional teaching resources are available to support pupils with the greatest level of learning need. There is a defined level of resources available to distribute across the whole school system. A...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth. The scheme is made up of three separate schemes, the school transport scheme for primary, post primary and for children with special educational needs. Transport is also provided for children who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine and those residing in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: The Summer Programme is an educational programme which is run during the summer months. Sometimes referred to as July Provision, the Summer Programme was established to support the educational provision for children with severe/profound general learning disability and children with Autism by extending the school year for four weeks annually, typically into the month of July. As a direct...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. Special schools funded by my department are classified as primary national schools. They are intended, in accordance with the provisions of rule 64(1) of the Rules for National...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 101 together. The government is committed to the provision of additional special school places for children with more complex educational needs. Over 300 new special school places are being provided for the coming 2025/2026 school year. Five new special schools are being established in addition to the eleven new special schools opened over the last...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. In order to support the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) and forward planning my department recently published Circular 0039/2025. This circular informs school...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Enabling children with special educational needs to receive an appropriate education is a priority for this government. It is also a key priority for me, my department and for the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). The vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. Where children with more complex needs...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 106 together. This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The NCSE is, in the first instance, the primary body responsible for the matter the Deputy has raised. I have forwarded...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. Special classes are established under a particular designation of student need, e.g., Mild/Moderate/Severe to Profound Learning Disability or for particular conditions e.g....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. It is my department’s policy, in accordance with the principles of inclusive education, that students with additional learning needs are supported in mainstream classes...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. As demand for new special classes at post-primary level is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, due to increasing demographics and increasing prevalence...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Details of this year’s School-based Summer Programme were published on the 13th of February 2025. Funding of €62 million was secured in Budget 2025 to ensure the continuance of the €40 million annual investment that has been provided for since 2021. As in previous years, all of the funding will be utilised to meet the needs of our most vulnerable children. All schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: Each school is provided with Special Education Teacher (SET) hours to support children who have been identified with an additional learning need via the continuum of support framework. There are over 14,700 SETs supporting mainstream classes in the 2024/25 school year, which is an increase of over 1,000 since the end of the 2021 school year. This is the highest number of SET teachers ever in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (2 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The NCSE actively encourage expressions of interest from schools to open special classes, and I appreciate and commend the efforts taken by boards of management in expressing...

Review of Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004: Statements (1 Jul 2025)

Michael Moynihan: I thank all the Members for their contributions. The report was published last week and is before the House this week, which shows the urgency with which the Government treats the issue of special education. The one thing I am always encouraged by is the depth of knowledge of Members of the House about special education and the challenges being faced by families and I compliment them on...