Results 141-160 of 16,608 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: We have committed in the Programme for Government to expanding opportunities for pupils and students to attend Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, to establishing Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí where there is demand, and also to supporting parents choosing Irish-medium education for their children. Work is currently underway in my department on the development of a new...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: My department is taking a progressive, sequenced approach to developing a comprehensive policy for the Irish language in the education system. As it relates to the Department of Education and Youth, there are three strands to this work: the Policy on Gaeltacht Education; the policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht; and the action plan to support the teaching and learning of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: NEPS provides educational psychological support to all primary, post-primary, and special schools. NEPS provides all schools with:psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident,a casework service for individual children where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Educational Psychological Service (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: My Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries arising,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Ancillary Services Grant is payable to recognised primary schools and special schools in the Free Education Scheme. The grant is intended to cater for the cost of employing Secretarial and Caretaking staff. It is up to the Board of Management to allocate this funding as per their priorities. As per Circular 0040/2009 the capitation grant provided for general running costs and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to fulfil their full potential in life is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth. The DEIS programme is a key policy of government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. My department is investing over €180 million annually to provide additional?supports?to almost 1,200 schools...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 96, 97, 119 and 120 together. I propose to take PQs 40030/25, 40031/25, 39864/25 and 39865/25 and answer as one. My department is committed to supporting the participation, inclusion, and progression of all students in the education system. From September 2025, the capitation rate for Traveller supports will be €92 per pupil at primary level and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 100 together. Ensuring that every child's experience in school is positive and that they have qualified, engaged teachers available to support them in their learning is a priority area of action for the Government. There are more qualified teachers than ever working in schools with recent analysis of payroll data showing over 79,000 teachers...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I propose to take Questions Nos. 101, 102 and 103 together. The school building project referred to by the Deputy is included in the Department of Education and Youths’ Construction Programme. The brief for the project is the delivery of a new replacement 1,000 pupil post primary school and accommodation including 6 classrooms for children with special educational needs as part of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 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...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Professional Master of Education (PME) is a two-year, full-time Level 9 postgraduate professional teacher education programme designed to qualify graduates as primary and post-primary teachers. Changes to the duration and content of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes were made in response to recommendations in the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: Gross expenditure incurred by my Department last year on fee-charging schools was €144.8m. This includes salaries for teachers and special needs assistants of €142.9m for the 2023/24 school year and capital supports (building-related and ICT grants) of €1.9m in 2024. The allocation of teachers in fee-charging schools is outlined in Circular 0006/2025: Staffing...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, Level 1 and Level 2 learning programmes were made available to students in Senior Cycle last September for the first time. I am aware that a number of both special and mainstream schools have begun to offer these programmes. As the Deputy is aware, in the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Implementation Support Measures document, published by my Department in May of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: School secretaries and caretakers are at the heart of the school and are the key interface between students, parents, school leaders and other staff. Without them, our schools would be unsustainable. In supporting these vital school staff members, we also support the school community as a whole. Since September 2023 my department has been providing a payroll service for former grant...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession, which promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The Teaching Council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act 2001-2015 and in line with the Teaching Council Registration Regulations, 2016. There are five routes of registration, the minimum registration requirements for each route...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Irish Language (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I acknowledge the importance of increasing the supply of teachers with a high standard of Irish capable of teaching in Irish-medium setting. The Programme for Government (2025) also commits to increasing dedicated Irish-medium teacher training programmes. With regards incentives for students to pursue careers in Irish-medium education, funding is currently provided by my department to COGG...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Youth Services (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: I have received the Pre-Budget Submission for Budget 2026 from the National Youth Council of Ireland, and its contents have been noted. Budget 2026 will be considered by Government in the context of the annual estimates process. As this is ongoing, the Deputy will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this stage. However, I would like to note that we hope to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: The Ancillary Services Grant is payable to recognised primary schools and special schools in the Free Education Scheme. The grant is intended to cater for the cost of employing Secretarial and Caretaking staff. It is up to the Board of Management to allocate this funding as per their priorities. As per Circular 0040/2009 the capitation grant provided for general running costs and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Wildlife Regulations (16 Jul 2025)

Helen McEntee: Issues concerning public health including those raised by the Deputy, are matters for the HSE Public Health. Specifically, the role of my Department is to communicate to the education sector, public health information and advice on public health matters as recommended by the HSE Public Health. Regarding health and safety generally the body which has statutory responsibility for ensuring...