Results 161-180 of 6,769 for speaker:Darren O'Rourke

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Policy (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: How does the Minister intend to deliver on the programme for Government commitment to expand opportunities for students to attend Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí? Is it her commitment, as it was her predecessor's, to work towards increasing the number of young people currently in Irish-medium schools, as was committed to in the previous programme for Government but is not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Policy (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: What is needed is action. I appreciate the action plan and the survey have roles in that regard. I emphasised in my question a number of pieces that were included in the previous programme for Government but are not included in the current one, including increasing the emphasis on spoken Irish in the classroom, working towards the doubling of the number of young people currently in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Policy (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister. It is all about action on this issue. In the area the Minister and I represent, there is appetite for this. In south Meath are Gaelscoil na Rithe, Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg, Gaelscoil na Mí and Gaelscoil na Cille. There is a thriving Irish-language community at primary level and yet while we repeatedly built secondary schools in that area, none of them have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Welfare Service (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 7. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the current number of full-time equivalent educational welfare officer positions across Ireland, by county, in tabular form; the number of these positions currently vacant; the timeline for filling these vacancies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8491/25]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Welfare Service (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: What is the current number of full-time equivalent educational welfare officer positions across Ireland, by county? How many of these are currently vacant? What is the timeline for filling the vacancies? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Welfare Service (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister. She mentioned the rate of chronic absence from schools has more than doubled after Covid. More than a quarter of primary schoolchildren and more than a fifth of secondary school students missed at least a month of school days during the 2022–23 school year. As the Minister said, the figure is even higher in disadvantaged areas, with 42% of children attending...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Welfare Service (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister. I believe she will be providing me with the figures. I realise providing figures in tabular form does not always work well when taking oral questions. I am also hearing from school leaders that there has been a shift in protocol in terms of the expectations and demands of schools before Tusla educational welfare officers are engaged. From some of my engagement...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Staff (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Will the Minister outline her assessment of the teacher recruitment and retention emergency at primary and secondary levels and the measures she intends to take to address it?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Staff (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Will the Minister give us a timeline for those proposals and outline the nature of them? I appreciate that some may require funding. The picture is one of a crisis and emergency. At primary level, there has a shortage of more than 2,500 teachers for the 2024-25 academic year. There are many unfilled posts, and a large number of schools have had to use unqualified staff to cover absences....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Staff (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: The recognition of experience abroad is important. I encourage the Minister to engage with her colleague the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne, on the housing crisis, which is a major issue for teachers and a major driver when it comes to people leaving the country and not taking up teaching here. In responding to the situation relating to recruitment, we...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: There is a protest at the Department of Education scheduled for tomorrow. It is a 24-hour sleep-out by parents who are demanding appropriate places for their children. They should not have to do that. It is disgraceful and shameful that they have to. I send them solidarity and tell them that I will certainly do everything I can to keep this on the agenda and to push for an appropriate...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Staff (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 5. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline her assessment of the teacher recruitment and retention emergency at primary and secondary school level; the measures she intends to address it; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8926/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 3. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills what additional demand for special class and special school places for September 2025 is now anticipated at primary and secondary school level; what measures she is taking to ensure the necessary school buildings, staff and resources are in place to meet that demand; if emergency measures are expected; and if she will make a statement on the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I ask the Minister about school places in south County Meath. We will need additional places in Dunshaughlin for this September. What additional demand for special class and special school places for September 2025 is now anticipated at primary and secondary school level? What measures is the Minister taking to ensure the necessary school buildings, staff and resources are in place to meet...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: That is the point, and I have not heard from the Minister of State that they will be. The question was about what additional demand for special class and special school places for September 2025 is now anticipated on the back of that new process. The Minister of State did not answer that question. In fact, he spelled out what we knew already, which is what the Department is planning. How...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Curriculum (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 1. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the concerns raised by school leaders in relation to the accelerated roll-out of senior cycle reform; if she accepts that the accelerated timeline does not allow enough time for essential preparations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8924/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Curriculum (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: As this is the first ministerial questions session, I wish the Minister and Minister of State the best of luck in their roles. This is a very important time and I hope we can make progress. Is the Minister aware of the concerns raised by school leaders with regard to the accelerated roll-out of senior cycle reform, if she accepts that the accelerated timeline does not allow enough time...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Curriculum (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I welcome the fact that the Minister has met stakeholders. It is important that she meets all of the stakeholders in the sector at the earliest opportunity. If she has met them, she must surely have heard their concerns. I have not heard that reflected in her response thus far but they will have detailed them to her. They relate to a range of areas, principally capacity and preparedness,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: School Curriculum (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: We have spent more time identifying those issues than on spelling out exactly what the timeline will be between now and September for teachers, in the main, and, related to that, for school communities, parents and, most important, students embarking on this new programme from September, if that is the timeline. That detail has to be spelled out to school communities and school leaders at...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (27 Feb 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 41. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide an update on the counselling in primary schools pilot; the counselling hours delivered to date and the number of children to benefit; the way in which this pilot is monitored and evaluated; her plans for its further rollout; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8492/25]