Results 1,261-1,280 of 15,342 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Since 2020, my department has invested over €5.7 billion in our schools throughout the country, involving the completion of over 1,150 school building projects and with construction currently underway at approximately 300 other projects, which includes new school buildings some of which are being delivered in phases. These 300 projects currently at construction involve a total State...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (18 Feb 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 the removal of existing prefabricated buildings and replacement with a two-storey extension consisting of 3 mainstream classrooms, 7 SET resource rooms and 3 classroom base SEN unit and all associated facilities and site services. The project has been devolved to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Schemes (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The purpose of Parental Leave is to allow an employee a period of unpaid leave to care for their child. The Parental Leave Act (as amended) provides that parental leave up to a maximum of 26 weeks may be taken as continuous periods of not less than six weeks. The act further provides that, with the agreement of the employer or representatives of the employer and other employers and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (18 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: Departmental Consultations (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Education Support Centres (ESC) are independent bodies recognised under Section 37 of the Education Act (1998). This legislation states that “An education support centre shall have a management committee, to manage the business and staff of that centre.” Decisions about how to run the centre to achieve the best teacher professional learning (TPL) opportunities for all...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 317 and 341 together. As the Deputy may be aware, S.I. No. 286/2016 EU (Award of Contracts by Utility Undertakings Regulations) 2016 provides for exclusions to the procurement rules in relation to the rental of existing buildings. However, central policy has been developed by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform to guide property...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: Education Support Centres (ESC) are independent bodies recognised under Section 37 of the Education Act (1998). This legislation states that “An education support centre shall have a management committee, to manage the business and staff of that centre.” The management committee are responsible for ensuring that the ESC carries out its full range of functions in an effective...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department’s main responsibility is to ensure that schools in an area can, between them, cater for all pupils seeking school places in the area. Parents have the right to choose which school to apply to and where the school has places available for the relevant year, the student should be admitted. However, in schools where there are more applicants than places available, a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Accommodation (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the move of an Education Support Centre rather than a school. Education Support Centres (ESC) are independent bodies recognised under Section 37 of the Education Act (1998). This legislation states that “An education support centre shall have a management committee, to manage the business and staff of that centre.” Decisions...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department’s Planning and Building Unit is responsible for identifying the need for school accommodation; setting out the technical specifications for educational buildings; ensuring that standards are maintained; prioritising the allocation of resources and overseeing the delivery of the capital programme. The unit comprises the specialist sections for the various areas of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The joint major building project for the schools referred to by the Deputy is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning Stage 2(b) – Detailed Design, where the Design Team secure all statutory approvals and prepare the suite of tender documents. Following an increase in the overall schedule of accommodation to be provided which now includes additional classrooms for...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Admissions (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs is an absolute priority for the Department. As the Deputy may be aware, in order to plan for school place needs my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 324 and 325 together. The large scale capital project at the school referred to by the deputy is at an advanced stage of Architectural Planning Stage 3 - Tender Action and Award. The second Tender Report for Reserved Specialists was reviewed by my Department and comments issued to the Design Team and DDLETB for action. When a satisfactory reply is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Policies (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The criteria for the award of incremental credit are set out in the Department of Education’s Circulars 10/2001 for Primary teachers, and 29/2007 and 29/2010 for Post-Primary teachers. The criteria for the award of incremental credit to recognised teachers was agreed under the auspices of the Teachers Conciliation Council (TCC). These circulars provide for the award of incremental...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Transport (18 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 Accommodation (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I wish to advise the Deputy, that my Department has no current record of renting a building for the school in question from a religious order or organisation to which the Deputy refers. The school in question is a co-educational special school for pupils between the ages of 4 and 18 located in Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, Co Tipperary. The school is under the patronage of the Bishop of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Funding (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department has not received direct funding support for projects from the United States of America International Development for the period 2016 to date in 2025. The information in respect of aegis bodies, within the scope of the Deputy’s question, is not held by my Department. Contact details for these bodies are set out in the attached document should the Deputy wish to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Reviews (18 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: Departmental Policies (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum, which is currently mandatory for primary and Junior Cycle students, is focused on promoting the health and well-being of children. Teachers can include CPR/first-aid in their SPHE programme. Personal safety is currently addressed in a variety of ways in the primary and post primary curricula; for example, SPHE aims to develop...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (18 Feb 2025)

Helen McEntee: I can confirm to the Deputy, that my Department has recently received an application, under the Additional Schools Accommodation Scheme (ASA), 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...