Results 61-80 of 16,608 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The major building project for the schools referred to by the Deputy will deliver a new 1,000 pupil post primary school with accommodation and 6 classrooms for children with special educational needs and a new 8 classroom primary school with accommodation and 2 classrooms for children with special educational needs at Ballincollig, which will be delivered as part of a shared educational...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The number of children attending Irish-medium primary and post-primary schools within and outside of the Gaeltacht, between the academic years 2021/22 and 2023/24, can be found outlined in the table below. Academic Year 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Outside of the Gaeltacht Gaeltacht Outside of the Gaeltacht ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm to the Deputy, that the school in question has accepted a brief for a permanent building project consisting of 4 mainstream general classrooms, 3 special educational tuition rooms and 2 special education classrooms under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme. The purpose of my department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme is to ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can advise the Deputy that the number of exemptions from the study of Irish granted at post primary level in recent years is as follows: Year Exemptions granted at PP level Enrolments at PP level Granted as % of overall PP enrolment 2018/19 10,538 362,899 2.9% 2019/20 12,057 ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to advise the Deputy that requirements for school places are kept under on-going review in the context of available information on population, enrolments and residential development activity. Over 1,400 Large Scale, Additional Accommodation and Modular school building projects have been completed between 2020 and to date in 2025. Since 2020, my Department has invested over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Programme for Government includes commitments to expand opportunities for students to attend Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, to establish Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí where there is demand, and to support parents choosing Irish-medium education for their children. Work is currently underway in my department on the development of a new policy on Irish-medium...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department recognises the vitally important role of secretaries and caretakers within school communities, as a key link between students, school leaders and other staff, ensuring that both the core needs of the school are met. Since September 2023 my department has been providing a payroll service for former grant funded school secretaries. This happened on foot of an Agreement reached in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 was published in 2022 and is underpinned by funding of €200m over the course of the strategy to support its implementation, which was committed to under Ireland’s National Development Plan (NDP). The funding allocation model provided for in the National Development Plan commits to funding to issue over the period of the NDP, applied by...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Programme for Government commits to developing an appropriate mechanism to allow additional time for students with specific needs and in certain circumstances, and also to ensure that those who use assistive technology can do so in State examinations. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has responsibility for the operation and delivery of the State examinations, and facilitates...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Youth Services (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 163 and 290 together. Responsibility for Youth Affairs policy and operations transferred to my department on 1 May 2025. All operational funding and support measures have now transferred seamlessly for the 35 national organisations, 16 ETBs, and other related organisations such as Gaisce and Léargas. Youth work and youth services provide immense...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Artificial Intelligence (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I assume the Deputy is referring to the possible use of generative artificial intelligence, Gen AI, in the context of assessment for State certification purposes. Artificial intelligence continues to be a dynamic space that presents us with both challenges and opportunities. Since the 2023 examinations, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) has updated its general and subject specific...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department recognises the vitally important role of secretaries and caretakers within school communities, as a key link between students, school leaders and other staff, ensuring that the core needs of the school are met. Since September 2023 my department has been providing a payroll service for former grant funded school secretaries. This happened on foot of an Agreement reached in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: My department has a robust forward planning process which considers population and enrolment data. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographical information system, using data from a range of sources, including CSO census data, child benefit and school enrolment...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Deputy will appreciate that all applications from schools for major capital works must be considered in the context of overall priorities, capital funding, capacity requirements and climate action commitments. In managing the progression of the existing pipeline of projects within the allocated capital funding and in line with the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines, the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has responsibility for the operation and delivery of the State examinations, and facilitates access to the examinations through its scheme of reasonable accommodations at the certificate examinations, otherwise known as the RACE scheme. I have asked the SEC to respond directly to the Deputy in relation to the accommodations currently in place under...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The organisation in question is an independent voluntary organisation governed by its independent Board. As such, the establishment of a redress scheme is a matter for the organisation to determine. It is not appropriate for my Department to otherwise comment in relation to ongoing legal matters involving this independent voluntary organisation. The organisation receives some of its...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: 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 school referred to by the Deputy was one of four new schools established for the 2024/25 school year in Counties Meath, Kildare, Limerick and in Gorey, County Wexford. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 283, 284, 285, 286 and 287 together. The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is the psychological service of the Department of Education and Youth and provides critical services to the almost 1 million children and young people and almost 100,000 staff who work in our primary, post-primary and special schools daily. The vital and broad-ranging...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Trade Unions (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: School secretaries and caretakers are at the heart of the school community and are the key interface between students, parents, school leaders and other staff. Without them, our schools would be unsustainable. In supporting these vital school staff members, we also support the school community as a whole. Since September 2023 my department has been providing a payroll service for former...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (17 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The primary staffing arrangements for the 2025/26 school year are set out in Circular 0011/2025. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all...