Results 621-640 of 15,342 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred by the Deputy has been approved to enter the Department's pipeline for school building projects, to provide one mainstream classroom and one special education teaching (SET) room under the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. A Stage 1/2a report was submitted and reviewed from both a technical and cost perspective in accordance with the requirements of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. There is no change to the mainstream staffing of the school referred to by the Deputy for the 2025/26 school year. The staffing arrangements include a provision whereby schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The school referred to by the Deputy was due to have a mainstream teaching post suppressed for the 2025/26 school year due to falling enrolments. The staffing process contains an...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (1 Apr 2025)

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

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (1 Apr 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: School Funding (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: My 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: School Funding (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: Following the acceptance by Fórsa of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) agreement in respect of salaries and various leave entitlements for grant-funded school secretaries, those secretaries who accepted the terms of this agreement were placed on a payroll operated by the Department of Education from September 2023. Therefore, ancillary-related grant funding has been revised to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Properties (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to inform the Deputy that the property in question is not currently in the ownership of my Department. With regards to the project, I can confirm that a Project Manager has been appointed to design and tender the reconfiguration project and to oversee all elements of construction.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. Under the terms of the School Transport Schemes, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post primary level where they reside not less than 4.8...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (1 Apr 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. As with other sectors, recruitment challenges exist in some schools. To address teacher supply issues, The Government has implemented several measures that have led to:an increase of 20% in Initial...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The School Completion Programme (SCP) is funded by my department via Tulsa Education Support Service (TESS) and is a central element of the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme, a key policy initiative of my department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level, in a targeted and equitable way, across the primary and post-primary sector. ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: My 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: State Examinations (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: An increase in the overall set of results was noted in Ireland and internationally following pandemic-related interventions in examinations. In Ireland, the implementation of Calculated Grades in 2020 and Accredited Grades alongside examinations in 2021 resulted in overall results on the aggregate, as measured on the composite, level adjusted scale, that were approximately 7 percentage points...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (1 Apr 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: School Transport (1 Apr 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 (1 Apr 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 application in question is currently being reviewed by the EWS team. Once this review process is complete the EWS team will engage further with the school as appropriate. The EWS team is aware of the urgent nature of the works required and will keep the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: As noted the school to which the Deputy refers submitted applications for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for life safety systems and roof works. The applications in question are currently being reviewed by the technical area within the EWS. Once a technical recommendation has been received back from the technical team, the EWS team will engage further with the school as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Administration (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: Under the Education Act 1998 the Board of Management of a school is the body charged with the direct governance of a school. The Board of Management is accountable to the Patron of the school. While the Department of Education provides funding and policy direction for schools, the Department does not have the power to instruct schools to follow a particular course of direction with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (1 Apr 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 agreement provided for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (1 Apr 2025)

Helen McEntee: The scope of works and associated costs are currently being finalised by the Design Team and Programme Manager, for submission to my Department. Upon review and approval, the modular building can then be installed, providing additional accommodation for the school referred to by the Deputy.