Results 641-660 of 17,498 for speaker:Helen McEntee

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

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 956 and 957 together. By way of background, it might be helpful if I explained the role my department plays in terms of the payroll service it provides to schools. My department provides a payroll service to over 3,700 schools. The school and its Board of Management remain the employer of teachers. There are a variety of teaching employment types...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Appointments Service (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: 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, 17/2008 and 31/2011, which were agreed between the Department of Education and Youth and the...

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

Helen McEntee: The school building project referred to by the deputy will provide a new 600 pupil post-primary school building and accommodation, including classrooms for children with special educational needs. This project, which has planning permission, has been assigned to my Departments Design & Build delivery programme which uses a professional external Project Manager to progress the...

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

Helen McEntee: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my department has received an application, under the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) Scheme, from the school authority in question. The purpose of the 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Boards (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The project referred to by the Deputy has been devolved for delivery to Louth and Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB). The project is currently at Stage 2b of the architectural planning process. This stage involves obtaining all statutory approvals, preparing a set of fully detailed Tender documents, and preparing an accurate pre-tender cost plan. Since 2020 over €6...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 963 and 964 together. Entry Year Leaving Certificate Year Entry Cohort Sat Junior Certificate Sat Leaving Certificate Sat JC but no LC % of entry cohort % of JC sitters % of LC sitters 2013 2019 59,524 58,051 54,265 3,786 6.4 ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (8 Sep 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: Education and Training Provision (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy is aware, the Free Fees Initiative is an administrative scheme of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Innovation and Science for all approved courses, with the exception of Marino Institute of Education primary initial teacher education programmes, which are funded through the Higher Education Authority. My Department directly provides capitation, free fees and...

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

Helen McEntee: The school building project referred to by the Deputy is part of a campus project assigned to my Department’s Design and Build programme which uses a professional external Project Manager to progress the project through the relevant stages of architectural planning, tender and construction. This campus project will deliver a new 1,000 pupil post-primary school and accommodation,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Correspondence (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: In June of this year the Department issued a circular to post-primary schools (circular 0045/2025) informing them that they are required to implement a policy to restrict the use of, and access to, personal mobile phones by students for the duration of the school day. This policy is intended to support schools in improving the learning environment in schools by reducing distraction, reducing...

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

Helen McEntee: Recognising the vitally important role of secretaries and caretakers within school communities, my officials have been working intensively with stakeholders and with the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to establish a platform for meaningful discussion and resolution. On Friday 5th September, following constructive engagement under the auspices of the WRC, the parties have agreed to...

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

Helen McEntee: The 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: Schools Building Projects (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The project referred to by the Deputy is devolved for delivery to Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board (KCETB). It is part of a campus project. The project brief is for the construction of two new multi-storey school buildings for new post primary schools for Coláiste Pobail Osraí and Kilkenny City Vocational School. The project is currently at Stage 2b of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (8 Sep 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: School Staff (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: A member of my staff has been in contact with the individual concerned and correspondence has been issued outlining the overpayment details and the reduced recoupment.

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

Helen McEntee: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved under the Additional School Accommodation Scheme to provide 1 mainstream classroom and a 2 classroom SEN base. The project is devolved to the school authority for delivery. A Stage 2b Report (post planning) was received in April 2025. Project costs have increased significantly, and as a result the project remains under careful review...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (8 Sep 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 is undertaking steps to address teacher supply across all subjects including STEM subjects, and to this end, I announced a measure to enable teachers gain permanent roles more...

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

Helen McEntee: The Government has now concluded the review of the National Development Plan which sets out the capital allocations for each Government Department for the 2026 to 2030 period. The NDP outcome involves an allocation of €7.55bn for the Department of Education & Youth for the 2026 to 2030 period. This equates to an average of €1.51bn per annum with some front-loading in...

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

Helen McEntee: The project to which the Deputy refers has been devolved for delivery to Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB). The project brief provides for the delivery of a new eight mainstream classroom school with three special education tuition rooms. The project commenced onsite in Q3 of 2024 and is estimated to be completed in Q1 of 2026. The CMETB are engaging directly with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (8 Sep 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs. The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years, including an over €30 million permanent...