Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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381. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of WTE educational welfare officers based in Clare in 2023, 2024 and to-date in 2025, in tabular form. [13905/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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) scheme and the School Completion Programme (SCP). The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, parents and guardians and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people.

The primary role of the EWS is to ensure that every child either attends school regularly or otherwise receives a certain minimum education; to ensure and secure every child’s entitlement to education.

Educational Welfare Officers (EWOs) are based throughout the country and work with children, young people and their families who are experiencing difficulty with school attendance; this is done through, home visits, educational welfare conferences and collaboratively working with different agencies. The main priority of the work is around the welfare of children and young people to ensure that concerns around attendance are addressed before attendance becomes a crisis issue.

The table below shows the number of WTE EWOs based in Co Clare from 2023 to 2025.