Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1202. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department will commit to communicating important circulars to school principals during school term time and not during holiday periods; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43081/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation for the vital work that school principals do every day. I understand the demands of the role and the importance of protecting their time, especially outside of term.

With this in mind, my department has worked closely with our key stakeholders/education partners to put in place processes for how and when the department communicates with schools. These steps are designed to ensure that principals only receive communications when necessary and are not contacted unnecessarily during school holidays.

My department endeavours to:

• Send direct communications only during core term time in line with the standardised school year.
• Send communication between working hours of 09.00AM and 5.00PM Monday - Thursday.
• Where possible, avoid issuing communications on Fridays.
• Limit the number of daily communications issued by the department.

Sometimes, my department may need to contact schools outside the usual times—for example, when the information is important, timebound or in an emergency. We also may be required to issue communications in advance of the school year commencing to support the return to school. There are also circulars which are issued across the public service, such as those relating to the Public Service Agreement, which my department is required to issue at the time prescribed.

We are currently reviewing our processes to ensure that our communications are timely, focused and relevant and I welcome any further feedback you may have on this matter.