Results 15,421-15,440 of 15,994 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I refer to the Deputy’s enquiry concerning the above matter. The Programme for Government commits to expand the provision of after-school and childcare in school buildings and campuses, in tandem with the school building programme, to provide better access for parents and communities. My Department is considering steps which can be taken to meet this commitment. The policy of my...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: My department’s main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available for the relevant year, the student should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available, a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Administration (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The State Examinations Commission has statutory responsibility for operational matters relating to the state examinations. In view of this I have forwarded your query to the State Examinations Commission for direct reply to you.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the deputy maybe aware, the purpose of the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies, or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Educational Disadvantage (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to fulfil their full potential in life is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth, and for the Government. The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. There are five routes of registration, the minimum registration requirements for each route...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to advise the Deputy that the recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts is a matter for the individual school authority, subject to procedures agreed under Section 24 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012). In accordance with Department Circulars 0044/2019 and 0031/2011, schools are required to employ appropriately...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Artificial Intelligence (13 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: While AI has the potential to enhance education and inclusion, there are also risks and challenges with its use. As an evolving and emerging technology, it is important that the response and guidance is evidence informed and sufficiently robust. As highlighted in the AI Strategy, ‘AI Here for Good’, it is important that teachers and school leaders understand the strength and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (13 May 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 of mine. Since 2020, my Department has invested over €177 million in school infrastructure across County Wicklow. The Department is continually...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Legislative Process (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: It is my intention to progress the passage of the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024 in the coming weeks so that the supports concerned can be made available to survivors as quickly as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Commissions of Investigation (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Report of the Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Day and Boarding Schools Run by Religious Orders recommended the establishment of a Commission of Investigation as its principal recommendation and this has been accepted by Government. The Report of the Scoping Inquiry made a number of further recommendations and a high level Inter-Departmental Group (IDG) was convened to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I would like to thank Deputy Connolly for his question regarding my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). NEPS provides educational psychological support to all primary, post-primary, and special schools. The NEPS service provides access for all schools to:psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident,a casework service for individual children...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy may be aware, my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Under this scheme schools can have an...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy may be aware, the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA) is provided by the Department to assist in the delivery of a psychological service to all schools. The scheme provides funding to schools to commission individual psychological assessments for students from psychologists working in a private capacity. The costs are met by the Department. The...

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

Helen McEntee: My department's Building Regulations offer clear guidance on the provision of accessible facilities. This guidance stipulates that where sanitary facilities are provided, they should either be universally accessible or, alternatively, specific universally accessible facilities must also be included. The relevant guidance document, Technical Guidance Document (TGD) Part M, was introduced in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department's main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. In relation to school admissions, it is the responsibility of the managerial authorities of all schools to implement an enrolment policy in accordance with the Education Act, 1998. Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Mental Health Policy (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Department of Education’s approach to supporting wellbeing and mental health is set out in its Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice. This approach is founded on research and best international practice in relation to how schools can best support the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people. The approach proposed is a whole school and preventative...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department is committed to supporting the emotional wellbeing of all children including those who may have experienced trauma. A dedicated wellbeing portal can be accessed via ‘Wellbeing in Education’ on Gov.ie, bringing together all the wellbeing and mental health supports and resources that have been developed by the Department and the Department’s support...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (20 May 2025)

Helen McEntee: I know that teachers experience challenges that were not so acute for previous generations, including casualisation within the teaching profession. That is why I have announced that to help teachers to gain permanent roles more quickly, we will develop a new agreement which will see teachers who have taught for one year and successfully interview for a viable post in that school the...

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

Helen McEntee: Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 1350 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes new school buildings some of which are being delivered in phases. These 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State...