Results 421-440 of 15,342 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Schools Building Projects (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I thank Deputy Boland for raising this question. I acknowledge that she has prioritised this with me and wants to ensure that every child, parent and teacher in her constituency has the resources, supports and indeed the appropriate school buildings he or she requires in the years ahead. I am absolutely committed to working with her and all of the schools in that regard. My role in this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Admissions (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I assure the Deputy we will be building on the two pilots I have mentioned for secondary schools, taking lessons and experience from them, and starting a pilot for the next school year, 2026-27, with the hope and ambition to roll it out further. We need to make sure we have the ability to share as much data as possible so all of our school systems are updated and all the schools in a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Admissions (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I am aware of this issue because it has been raised previously, including by the Deputy. The information we have in the Department very clearly shows approximately 1,000 pupils move outside Dublin 15 on a daily basis to go to schools in the surrounding areas. This is obviously putting pressure on those schools. The view is the development of the new school, which I know is temporarily...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Education Policy (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue and something we all have a responsibility to try to deal with to support our young people, to educate them and to protect them insofar as possible from many of the challenges they face online. In respect of the mobile phones during school time, the pouches were just one of a number of measures that have been recommended and will...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Education Policy (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: So much work is being done. I mentioned Webwise and the different programmes that are being rolled out. The change in the curriculum has taken a number of years but it is now being rolled out and will be mandatory for leaving cert students. The ban that has initially come into our primary schools is absolutely fantastic but we all have a role here. There is more that schools can do, such...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Education Policy (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: To outline the action to date, phones have been banned in schools, and in primary schools in particular, which is only right. Young people are still being educated through the reform of the RSE programme. On post primary, a directive was issued by the Minister for Education urging schools to have restrictive mobile phone use in place, and we can see that being implemented in many of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Education Policy (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The SPHE programme is being updated so everything will be up to date, and young people are being asked what is important to them and what they should be discussing. Only last week, I launched a new programme in arts, which has been taken up by about a third of schools at the post-primary level. This is an overall health and well-being programme that brings everything into one place. It can...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Admissions (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. At the outset, we have to ensure we have the capacity there for any of these types of new application systems to work. My Department has a very significant capital programme, which is providing additional capacity around the country. Since 2020, €5.8 billion has been invested in our schools, involving the completion of over 1,300 school...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Funding (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: With all due respect, the Deputy's party called for multiple different variations of €150 million. We have to work within a budget and we have to make sure we prioritise where the need is most. I fully accept the need is here in education and that we need to provide more, but there is no school that will be let go to the wall because funding is not being provided. I cannot be any...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Funding (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: If we start allocating budgets outside of the budget every month, then we do not have a budget.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Funding (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: We have to work within the budget that has been provided, and what has been provided is 22% of an increase. I am absolutely committed to providing more. It could not be any clearer in the programme for Government. There is no school that will be let go to the wall because there is no funding being provided. We will always provide funding to schools.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Funding (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Government and I as Minister for Education are committed to increasing funding to support all schools. This has already seen a €30 million permanent increase in capitation funding to assist schools now and in the longer term with increased day-to-day running costs through budget 2025. This represents an increase of approximately 12% on current standard rates and enhanced rates...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Funding (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I have also spoken to teachers and principals and I fully accept we need to do more. There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government to do more. However, the Deputy has to accept that, in the past two years alone, there has been a 22% increase in capitation across primary and post-primary as well as an enhanced rate for special schools or where support is needed in DEIS schools....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Scoileanna Gaeilge agus Gaeltachta (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I fully support the important role that Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí play in the promotion of the Irish language. We have committed in the Programme for Government to expand opportunities for pupils and students to attend Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, to establish Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí where there is demand, and also, to support parents...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. The most recent data shows that there are over 79,000 qualified teachers employed in our schools across the country. Between 2018 and 2024, through record investment by Government, the number of...

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

Helen McEntee: Since 2020, my department has invested over €5.8 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. These projects have delivered almost 100,000 additional and replacement school places, including almost 3,000 in County Mayo. Between projects currently under construction and projects moving to construction in the coming...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: Reducing the level of school absenteeism is a key priority for me as Minister. The School Completion Programme will be a key part of our response to a significant rise in school absenteeism in recent years. The is an important programme to support children and young people who are at risk of early school leaving and is part of my department’s Delivering Equality of Opportunity in...

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

Helen McEntee: The purpose of the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or at other schools in the area. School building projects delivered under my Department’s Additional...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The School Transport 2030 report, which was published in early 2024 marks the largest review of the School Transport Scheme since it was established in 1967. I am committed to working to achieve the report’s recommendations of expanding access to the scheme so that an additional 100,000 pupils can be carried by 2030, and to continue to improve the scheme to that it provides a valuable...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: An Teanga Gaeilge (8 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: Leag mé amach gealltanais uaillmhianacha sa bhfrithrún a mhol mé maidir leis an nGaeilge sa chóras oideachais agus tá mé tiomanta beart a dhéanamh de réir mo bhriathar maidir leis na gealltanais sin le linn thréimhse an rialtais seo. Mar a bhaineann sé le mo roinn, tá cur chuige forásach, seicheamhach á ghlacadh le...