Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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204. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has conducted a review of the pension entitlements for all school secretaries and caretakers, given that the current legislative provisions do not afford them the same pension benefits as teachers and other staff who are directly employed by the Department. [26388/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The school secretary is at the heart of the school and is 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.

The majority of primary and voluntary secondary schools traditionally received assistance to provide for secretarial, caretaking and cleaning services under grant schemes. Where a school employed a staff member to support those functions those staff are not public servants but employees of individual schools and responsibility for terms of employment rests with the school.

Since September 2023 my department has been providing a payroll service for former grant funded school secretaries and I am delighted to say that currently 85% of school secretaries have opted for the new package and are on the Department administered payroll. This happened on foot of an Agreement reached in 2022, under the auspices of the WRC, that secretaries would move to a centralised pay roll managed by the Department and receive new terms and conditions of employment.

As you know, school secretaries now benefit from an alignment with the Clerical Officer Grade III pay scale within education and training boards on a pro rata basis. In addition, it was agreed that pay increases under future national agreements will be passed onto secretaries and this has happened with each pay increase since the implementation of the agreement.

My Department has also improved the conditions for School Secretaries with regard to sick leave, annual leave and maternity provisions for this cohort of staff. For example, where only 51% of grant-funded secretaries had paid sick leave previously, all those who have onboarded to the departments payroll now have access to paid sick leave entitlements.

I acknowledge that Forsa are looking to future improvements for terms and conditions for secretaries and recognise that for them, public service status and access to a public service pension is understandably an important objective.

The issue of public service status is complex and needs to have regard to a number of factors. For those reasons, any proposals must be considered in detail by my own officials and those in Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform as the granting or otherwise of public servant status is not within the scope of this Department.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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205. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria for schools to have a home school liaison officer; if she plans to provide for every second level school to have such an officer or to expand the criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26397/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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 in the DEIS programme.? This is additional to universal measures, including the free schoolbooks scheme, that support children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools.

The Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) scheme is one of the key supports provided by my Department as part of the overall DEIS programme. Tusla Education Support Service manage the HSCL scheme on behalf of my Department. The scheme seeks to promote partnership between parents, teachers and community family support services, with a view to supporting improved attendance, participation and retention.

All DEIS urban primary schools and all DEIS post-primary schools are included in the HSCL scheme, which currently serves 687 DEIS schools, catering for approximately 207,000 children and young people. The scheme is delivered by 528 full-time HSCL coordinators, who are teachers in these schools and assigned to HSCL duties either in individual schools or in clusters of schools,

In addition to the above, a pilot project to support Traveller and Roma pupils, under the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, is in operation in 4 locations with 1 HSCL coordinator assigned in each location. A further 10 HSCL Coordinators support attendance, participation and retention among Traveller and Roma students, across 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools.

I am committed to delivering a new DEIS Plan this year to outline my department’s overall approach to tackle educational disadvantage, and any expansion to the role of the HSCL coordinator will be examined in the context of the new Plan.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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206. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria for the awarding of staff to support leaving certificate applied in second level schools, if she plans to expand the criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26398/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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An allocation of 0.50 WTE post is granted to schools, where they provide the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme. As set out in the relevant circulars (006/2025, 007/2025, 008/2025), schools are required to provide confirmation that the LCA programme will be provided in the 2025/26 school year. There are no plans to alter these arrangements.

The Deputy may wish to note that, in the context of Senior Cycle Redevelopment, since September 2022, LCA students may now also access LCE Mathematics and an LCE Modern Foreign Language (MFL), subject to their school’s timetabling. Students may study LCE Mathematics either in addition to LCA Mathematical Applications, or instead of LCA Mathematical Applications. In such cases, students receive an integrated statement of results from the SEC.

In addition, from the start of school year 2025/26, students entering year one of the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme will be required to follow the new Senior Cycle Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) curriculum specification. The new specification for Senior Cycle SPHE will replace the current Social Education modules 1 and 4. An updated LCA Programme Statement reflecting these changes for students entering LCA in the 2025/26 school year is available at: www.curriculumonline.ie/getmedia/7a48fd2a-c208-40c4-a541-f71e0044394e/LCA-Programme-Statement_Dec-2024.pdf.