Results 241-260 of 16,608 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Textbooks (9 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: As you are aware, in February of this year I announced the details of the final phase of the Post-Primary Schoolbooks Scheme, which extends the Junior Cycle Schoolbooks Scheme to all students in Senior Cycle, including Transition Year, in post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme. This is the final step in the delivery of a key programme for government commitment to provide free...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (9 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Department of Education and Youth is committed to ensuring that student teachers at primary and post-primary level have the skills they need to support the diverse needs of all our children and young people.  In March 2025 the Minister wrote to Teaching Council to initiate a process to move towards a mandatory assessed placement period in a special education needs setting for all...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Enrolments (9 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: Please find attached requested data. It is not possible to extract enrolments from the Primary Online Database for specific dates in the past, other than the census date, so we are unable to provide enrolments at the end of June for previous academic years. I wish to advise the Deputy, as instructed by the Patron of the referred school, there were no enrolments for the end of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (9 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 64, 65 and 66 together. The primary staffing schedule is a long-standing feature of the primary allocation system which ensures fairness and transparency in the allocation of mainstream class teachers across our primary schools. It is an important feature of the primary schedule that staffing levels remain aligned with actual student numbers in schools....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (9 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The major building project for the schools referred to by the deputy is part of my Department's Employer Led Design (ELD) programme and will be delivered as a campus project. This campus project will deliver a new 8 classroom primary school and accommodation, including 2 classrooms, for children with special educational needs and a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school and accommodation,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (9 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my department is in receipt of an application under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school in question. The purpose of my department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom accommodation and accommodation for pupils with special education needs is available to cater...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 372 and 373 together. The Department has not incurred any such expenditure.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Advertising (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: Total advertising spend (including design and creative costs) is outlined below. 2025 to date €329,901.00 2024 €563,630.12 2023 €800,434.04 2022 €364,842.68 2021 €541,369.05 2020 €626,401.73 ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Minister for Education has not contracted or paid for any organisation, company or person for media training from 1 January 2015 to date.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: Costs incurred in 2024: €3,936.00 (Inc VAT) Name of contractor: Q4PR. Description of works: The costs were for strategic communications advice related to the planned primary school survey (including overall approach and communications strategy).

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 377 and 378 together. Since 2020, the Department of Education and Youth has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan. This investment has resulted in approximately 1,400 completed school building projects, including large-scale projects, additional accommodation, and modular buildings. In...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (8 Jul 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 - see: www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2001/act/8/enacted/en/html - and in line with the Teaching Council (Registration) Regulations 2016 - see:...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The purpose of the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme (CASWS) is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis and, ideally, can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. The CASWS operates on a multi-annual basis across a number of categories of works such as external...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my department is in receipt of an application under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school in question. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the school in question was approved a traditional build extension of one Mainstream classroom, two Special education tuition rooms and two Special education classrooms in 2024. This...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers to was approved to enter the departments pipeline of school building projects under the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) Scheme to provide a 4 Classroom SEN base and 2 SET classrooms. The project has been devolved for delivery to the school authority. In March 2025, my Department wrote to the school confirming that funding would not be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to inform the Deputy that this proposal was considered by my department when received. My department are not in a position to approve this proposal as the lands in question are to be retained for possible future educational accommodation requirements.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: Submissions received for Budget 2026 Department of Education and Youth core funding will be considered as part of the Department's Budget 2026 estimates process. I can advise the Deputy that, under the 2025 Dormant Accounts Fund, funding of €180,000 was approved for the organisation in question through my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers was approved to enter the departments pipeline of school building projects under the Department’s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme to provide one music room, one construction room with prep area, and one home economics room. The project has been devolved to the school authority for delivery. Approval to Stage 2b (planning stage) of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I would like to thank Deputy Clarke for her question on my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme. NEPS provides psychological support to all primary, post-primary, and special schools. The DEIS programme provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Schooling (8 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Home Tuition Grant Scheme is a short-term measure available to provide funding towards the provision of a compensatory educational service for children who, for a number of specific reasons, are unable to attend school. An Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) is assigned immediately to support families where children are temporarily without a school place, are without an offer of a school...