Results 14,381-14,400 of 15,972 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The provision of sports halls and outdoor hard play areas is part of the overall School Building Programme and form part of the accommodation brief for all new school buildings. Almost 95% of the post primary schools that made 2020 Annual Schools Returns have indicated to the Department that they either have a PE Hall/Sports gym, access to a nearby PE Hall/Sports Gym, or a project in train...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Inquiries (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The position is that the statement of service which was required in order to process the increment payment was received in NTS Payroll on the 10th February 2025. On examining the statement of service it was discovered that it did not explicitly state that the previous employment in at ETB, had been in relation to work as an SNA. This meant that staff working in the NTS Payroll of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers submitted an application for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for a windows project. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Firstly, let me say that Caretakers are valued members of our school communities who carry out work vital to the operations of our schools. At present, the majority of primary and post-primary schools receive assistance to provide for caretaker services under ancillary grant funding. Under the February 2022 agreement the implementation of revised salary and annual leave entitlements for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Inquiries (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Department of Education has been providing a payroll service for former grant funded school secretaries with effect from 1st September 2023. The provision of this payroll service is part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in 2022. The secretaries had previously...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter the department’s pipeline for a project under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project will provide 5 general classrooms, 3 tuition rooms, a 4 classroom SEN base, 1 art room, 1 project store, 1 graphics room, 1 music room, 2 technology preparation areas, 1 science laboratory and prep area. The project...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter the department’s pipeline for a project under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project will provide a 2 classroom SEN base, a music room and 5 general classrooms. The project has been devolved to the Tipperary Education and Training Board (TETB) for delivery. A Stage 2B (pre-tender) report was...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Inquiries (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Department of Education has been providing a payroll service for former grant funded school secretaries with effect from 1st September 2023. The provision of this payroll service is part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in 2022. The secretaries had previously...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved funding under the Additional Accommodation Scheme to provide 2 mainstream classrooms and 2 SET rooms. This project has been devolved to the school authority for delivery. The project is currently at Stage 3 of the architectural design process. All funding requests submitted by the school have been assessed by Department officials...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The project referred to by the Deputy has been devolved for delivery to Cork Education and Training Board (CETB). This project is currently at Stage 2a (detailed design) of the architectural process. The Stage 2a report has been submitted to the Department for review and a Stage 2a meeting is scheduled to take place in March 2025. Once this is reviewed and approved, the project will then...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Inquiries (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: This Government is fully committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience, with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are dedicated to supporting their learning. My Department regularly consults with key stakeholders to address critical issues like teacher supply. Further measures to strengthen the teaching workforce are being considered. As with other...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (4 Mar 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: Schools Building Projects (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to advise the Deputy that all applications from schools for major capital works must be considered in the context of capacity requirements and climate action commitments. The priority of my Department continues to be the provision of required additional school places to meet demographic requirements as well as for children with special educational needs. My Department is required...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: As Minister for Education, I believe it is crucially important that children and young people are actively supported to access education in its fullest forms. This Government recognises that the cost of preparing children for school each September can be a cause of financial difficulty and worry for many Irish families. As you are aware, on the 5th of February this year, I announced the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The furniture and equipment (F&E) area within my Department deals with the provision of furniture and equipment across a number of different streams including the replacement of specialist F&E, to which the issue the deputy has raised refers. As part of the planning for the provision of F&E generally, there has to be a balance between the volume of demand, and the ability of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Staff (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Leave entitlements for public servants, including teachers, are determined by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. Under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998, the Minister for Education, with the concurrence of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, is authorised to determine the terms and conditions...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 381 and 382 together. 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 to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred by the Deputy has been approved to enter the Department's pipeline for school building projects under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme , to provide two mainstream classrooms, two Special Education Teaching (SET) rooms and one Special Educational Needs (SEN) Base. This project has been devolved to the school authority for delivery. The Department has...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: As you may be aware, the purpose of the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis including external works such as play areas. However, all projects must be fully approved by my Department and be in compliance with the Department’s Technical Guidance Documents (TGD’s) before progressing to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Management (4 Mar 2025)

Helen McEntee: Under the provisions of the Education Act, 1998 the Board of Management is the body charged with the direct governance of a school on behalf of the Patron. The Board of Management of each school is responsible for the care and safety of all of the students in their school and care and safety should be at the centre of all policy and practices. Schools should respect any order made by the...