Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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489. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of educational welfare officers employed by Tusla in Meath; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39323/25]

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) 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 educational welfare of children and young people and to ensure that concerns around attendance are addressed before attendance becomes a crisis issue.

I can advise the Deputy that there are 6 WTE Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) in Co Meath. There are currently two vacancies, one is due to be filled in August, and the second vacancy will be expressed to the EWO panel in the coming days.

In addition, a Duty EWO is assigned to Meath as part of a wider brief also covering the Fingal area.