Results 1,061-1,080 of 15,047 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Welfare Service (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my Department. TESS operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. TESS has three strands namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL)...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Policy (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Schools have a role to play in supporting their students to develop the key skills and knowledge to enable them to make informed choices in different aspects of their lives. This is mainly done through the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) programme, which is a mandatory part of the Primary and Junior Cycle curriculum. The SPHE specification provides vital opportunities for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Grant Payments (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: My department recognises the importance of the Minor Works Grant to primary and special schools. Under Project Ireland 2040, a commitment was given that the Minor Works Grant would be paid in either December or January of the school year to all primary and special schools. In recent years my department’s approach has been to pay the Minor Works Grant to primary and special schools in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy may be aware, the purpose of the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) 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 SWS operates on a multi-annual basis for a number of categories and was last opened for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Ministerial Responsibilities (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The brief that I received on my appointment as Minister for Education and Youth is currently being reviewed for publication and will be made available on my Department's website in the near future.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 272 and 273 together. I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department is in receipt of an application for the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme, from the school in question. The purpose of the ASA scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and accommodation for students with special educational needs is available to cater for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pensions (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: ETBs are responsible for the administration of pension schemes in relation to their employees and they maintain the relevant employment and pension records of their employees. The relevant ETB has confirmed that the person concerned worked for them on various occasions between 2001 and 2007 with their service being, in the main, part time substitution service. Following a request from the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Home Schooling (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Irish constitution acknowledges the role of a parent as the primary educator of the child and has enshrined in law that a parent may home educate their child or may choose to send their child to a non-recognised school. The State cannot oblige parents to send their children to a recognised school but it must satisfy itself that all children receive a minimum education. Since 1 January...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The project referred to by the Deputy has been devolved to the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) for delivery as part of a programme of school building projects. The brief for the project is to provide a new build replacement school for a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000 pupils including a 4 class SEN base. The project is currently in the final stages of Stage 2b of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Welfare Service (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my department. TESS operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. TESS has three strands namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL)...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (11 Feb 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 to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres. this figure includes over...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my department. TESS operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. TESS has three strands namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL)...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Leave of Absence following Assault Scheme, which is contained in the department’s Circular Letter 0061/2017 for teachers and Circular Letter 0062/2017 for SNAs, provides for special leave with pay (subject to specified limits) to a teacher/SNA who is unable to perform their duties due to a physical injury following an assault that happened in the course of their duties and during...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teaching Qualifications (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the . As set out in the Schedule of the Regulations, the Council registers teachers under five routes of registration: Route 1 - Primary, Route 2 - Post-primary, Route 3 - Further Education, Route 4 - Other and Route 5 - Student Teacher. The registration requirements for each route are set out in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Legislative Process (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm that my Department did not initiate or enact any Bill in the houses of the Oireachtas in 2024.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to advise the Deputy that requirement for school places is kept under on-going review in the context of available information on population, enrolments and residential development activity. In order to plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, my department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a geographical information system, using...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Legislative Measures (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024 was published in April 2024 and completed Dáil Committee Stage on 18 June 2024. While the Bill did not progress further before the dissolution of the Dáil in November 2024, Government has committed in the Programme for Government to completing its passage through the Oireachtas and it has been restored to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school in question to which the Deputy refers submitted an application for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for roof works works. The EWS operates on the basis of a minimal scope of works and the school was advised to submit a revised scope of works with an accompanying itemised cost breakdown. Once this is received the EWS team will review the revised application and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: There are 5 core stages involved in the delivery of a school building project. These stages are reflective of the Capital Works Management Framework and the Government’s Infrastructure Guidelines. The stages range from Preliminary Design right through to completion and handover. The large scale capital project referred to by the Deputy for the provision of a new 600 pupil school and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Public Sector Pay (11 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Secretary General in the Department is paid at the Secretary General II level, in line with the civil service salary scales as set out by the Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform and published on . The most recent salary scales are available at: www.nsso.gov.ie/en/publications/notice-to-employees-of-1-oct ober-2024-pay-adjustments/ To date there have been two...