Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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441. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of education welfare officers there are in the country, and where, in tabular form. [16570/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Tusla Education Support Service (TESS), which includes the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS), is under the remit of my department since 2021.

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) work with children and young people who are experiencing school attendance problems and their families and schools

The number of EWOs has increased significantly since 2021. Recently, TESS has been restructured into six regions based on child population and is fully aligned with the Tusla regions.

EWOs are assigned to schools, not to counties, and therefore assignments may cut across county boundaries. There is also flexibility in the assignment of EWOs to schools to ensure an effective and efficient service across the country.

Currently, there are 159 EWO Whole Time Equivalents (WTE’s) across the six TESS regions. Each TESS region is supported by a Regional Manager. There are 21 teams operating across the six TESS regions, and each is supported by a Senior Educational Welfare Officer and a business support team.

Included in the 159 EWO WTEs are 23 EWOs who provide services to the most vulnerable children and young people, including children in care and children living in homeless accommodation.

An additional 5 temporary EWO posts are also approved to trial innovative approaches to supporting attendance in all schools in 2025.

A national EWO recruitment campaign took place in February 2025, and all vacant EWO posts will be recruited from this panel.

The information requested by the Deputy is as follows;