Results 101-120 of 17,498 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: State Examinations (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can advise the Deputy that the Programme for Government commits to developing an appropriate mechanism to allow additional time for students with specific needs and in certain circumstances, and also to ensure that those who use assistive technology can do so in State examinations. The State Examinations Commission (SEC) has responsibility for the operation and delivery of the State...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the Department’s pipeline of school buildings under the Additional School Accommodation scheme to provide a 2 classroom SEN base and 1 mainstream classroom. The project is devolved to the School Authority for delivery. I can confirm that my Department awaits a Stage 1 report for review. Once the Stage 1 submission is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the Department's pipeline of school buildings for a project to provide 6 general classrooms, 1 technical graphics room, 1 woodwork room, 2 Science rooms including a shared preparation area, 1 home economics room and a 2 classroom SEN base. This project was approved to proceed to Stage 3 (tender) in Q4 2024. My Department recently...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the departments pipeline of school buildings for a project to provide a 3 classroom SEN Base.The project was devolved to the school for delivery. Approval to proceed to Stage 2b (developed design) was granted in April 2024. In June 2025, the Design Team advised they were finalising design elements and preparing tender...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school referred to by the Deputy was approved to enter the departments pipeline of school buildings to provide a 2 classroom SEN base and to replace displaced accommodation. The project was devolved to the school for delivery. A Stage 3 Tender Report has been received and is under review in line with the Public Spending Code. Department officials are currently assessing options to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy may be aware, 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 for categories of works such as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy may be aware my department supports schools through funding from the furniture & equipment scheme (F&E) to have sufficient appropriate furniture and equipment to meet the needs of the vast majority of children. New toys and/or their replacement does not fall under the Furniture and Equipment Scheme and should be funded by the school, it is open to the school to use...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 172, 173, 175 and 176 together. Planning for the National Convention on Education is ongoing. I am committed to ensuring that this Convention will reflect the Ireland of today, in all its diversity, and in particular the voices of children and young people, their parents and guardians, and education stakeholders. With this in mind, the Convention will...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Surveys (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: Most primary schools are State-aided parish schools, with the local Bishop as school patron. It is recognised, including by the Catholic school patrons, that an educational landscape is needed which more accurately reflects the reality of our increasingly diverse society and meets the expectations parents have for their children. The Programme for Government commits to seeking to increase...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Meetings (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The project was approved to enter the department’s pipeline of school buildings to provide a four Classroom Special Educational Needs (SEN) base, a general-purpose room and Ancillary under the department ‘s Additional School Accommodation (ASA) Scheme. The project is a joint project between the Boys & Girls National schools. Approval to proceed to Stage 2b...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: I am pleased to announce that, arising from Budget 2026, an additional €8 million in current and capital funding has been allocated to support the sustainability and development of youth services. This investment strengthens the foundation for inclusive, high-quality provision — ensuring continuity, expanding reach, and enabling services to respond to the evolving needs of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 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 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 appropriate. The EWS team is aware...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers was granted capital funding for the provision of two Special Educational Needs (SEN) classrooms under my Department’s Devolved SEN Reconfiguration and Modular Accommodation programme in December 2024. This programme involves the use of Project Management supports which is designed to enable the accommodation to be provided as quickly as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Refurbishment (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: The school to which the Deputy refers submitted an application on 10th October 2025 for funding under the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) for a collapsed ceiling within a classroom due to a failure in the plumbing network. The application in question is currently being reviewed by the technical area within the EWS. Once a technical recommendation has been received back from the technical...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 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 project consists of the construction of a new school next to the existing Presentation De La Salle School to facilitate an increase in capacity to an LPTE of 750 pupils and 5 special education classrooms. The...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm that my department is in receipt of an application for funding under the Additional Schools Accommodation (ASA) scheme from the school 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 school’s...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: Since 2020, my department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. In addition, over 200 SEN Repurposing projects delivered maximising the use of existing accommodation while creating opportunities for inclusion and integration. Government support for this...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Management (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to advise the Deputy that following a competitive procurement process, a Services Contract for the provision of an Integrated Human Capital Management (HCM) and Payroll Software as a Service solution was awarded to Version1 Software Limited in February 2025. The contract is for a term of six years, with the option to extend the term for a period or periods of three (3) Years, with a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (15 Oct 2025)

Helen McEntee: School placement is a central feature of initial teacher education (ITE), where student teachers are welcomed and supported by tutors from higher education institutions (HEIs), school principals, class teachers and the school community. Student teachers must successfully complete this element of the programme, which provides them with an opportunity to reflect on their identity as teachers,...