Results 14,121-14,140 of 15,969 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (19 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for the Department of Education. At a national level, Ireland has been experiencing growth in overall post primary enrolments and this is projected to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (19 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Each year, on the publication of the Department’s annual appropriation Accounts, extensive information is included in relation to project costs for large-scale projects in construction (over €10m), providing overall costs, expenditure to date and detailed notes in relation to where additional costs arose in those years in excess of €500,000. This is available on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Energy Conservation (19 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: My department is leading an ambitious sustainability agenda and has progressed a wide array of measures to improve the overall sustainability of our school buildings as part of our work towards 2030 and 2050 climate targets. This performance has been recognised at both National and International level with sustainable energy awards for excellence in design, specification and delivery. My...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (19 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the deputy refers submitted an application for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for roof works. The EWS operates on the basis of a minimal scope of works and the school was advised to submit a revised scope of works with an accompanying itemised cost breakdown. Once this is received the EWS team will review the revised application and will engage further with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Flexible Work Practices (19 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Whilst there are currently no plans to make any changes to blended working arrangements in my department, my department is planning to carry out an evaluation this year, in line with other Departments. The focus of the evaluation is to assess how well we are working as individuals, teams and as a department, now we have been using a blended working model for a number of years. In the event...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Budgets (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: NDP allocations and outturns (including supplementary funding) for the years 2020 to 2024. 2020 (€m) 2021 (€m) 2022 (€m) 2023 (€m) 2024 (€m) Allocation(including Supplementary Estimate) 925 940.4 1,092 1,265 1,457 Outturn ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: EU Funding (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has received direct EU funding for the following current and capital works projects in 2024 and the percentage of the funding that was actually covered by the EU in each of those projects is also documented: Project Description Project Type 2024 Funding Percentage by EU EU contribution to The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department is in the process of arranging interim accommodation for the school referred to by the Deputy in order to facilitate the school's immediate requirements pending delivery of their major building project. My officials are aware of the urgency associated with this accommodation and are working closely with the school authority and its design team to ensure the project is expedited....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The purpose of the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies. It does so by ensuring the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are in need of resources as a result of an emergency situation. An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, which...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. As set out in the Schedule of the Regulations, the Council registers teachers under five routes of registration: Route 1 - Primary, Route 2 - Post-primary, Route 3 - Further Education, Route 4 - Other and Route 5 - Student Teacher. The minimum...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter the department’s pipeline for a project under my Department's Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project will provide four mainstream classrooms, eight SET rooms and a four classroom Special Education Needs (SEN) base. The project was devolved for delivery to the school authority. As a result of a Stage...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The criteria for the award of incremental credit are set out in the Department of Education’s Circulars 10/2001 for Primary teachers, and 29/2007 and 29/2010 for Post-Primary teachers. The criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers was agreed under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC). These circulars provide for the award of incremental...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Capitation Grants (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep, and the ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department’s voted estimate for capital and current expenditure for 2025 stands at €11.9 Billion. This represents an increase of over €3.2 Billion or 36% since 2020 and includes €7.6 billion for pay related expenditure. Budget 2025 provides an increase of €712 million in core current funding to my Department's Vote, as well as over €360 million in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, over 172,500 children, are transported daily in approximately 7,900 vehicles across 10,300 routes daily to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres. This figure includes...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Further analysis was conducted on the necessity for the establishment of the planned new post primary school in Dublin2_Dublin4. This analysis includes data on the population profile from Census 2022, and current enrolment data in existing schools. It concluded that while enrolments are on an upward trend there is capacity in existing schools including Sandymount Park ETSS, the new post...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (20 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The large scale capital project at the school referred to by the Deputy is at Architectural Planning Stage 4 - Construction. The project brief is for the construction of a new predominantly 3 storey 1,000 pupil Post Primary School building. The development will include the demolition of 6 existing buildings on the site (non-protected structures); 5 of which are currently in use by the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Curriculum (27 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I look forward to working with all colleagues, particularly in this area. I thank the Deputy for asking this question as it is an important and live issue, in particular for students who will sit the leaving certificate in the years ahead. It is for this reason that, in the last few weeks, I have met nearly all the unions and representative bodies representing teachers, principals, schools...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Curriculum (27 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I think our stakeholders have outlined a number of things clearly. First, they want to ensure teachers feel appropriately trained and equipped because they want to ensure they are giving their best and students get the best outcomes. A number of training programmes have been developed and delivered already and my intention is to try to intensify that and provide even more supports and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Curriculum (27 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The most important thing here is that students benefit from the updated curriculums. In order to support teachers, I have asked my Department to intensify engagement. There are meetings happening on a weekly, if not biweekly, basis to ensure we look at how we can provide more and additional training, to ask if more resources need to be provided, to look at how we ensure that clear guidance...