Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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463. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the Education Plan 2025; to outline progress made on the commitment to provide best practice guidance to schools regarding arrangements facilitating parental requests for children to attend school without attending religious instruction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [63198/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I have published Education Plan 2025 as part of my plan to deliver a world-class education system which breaks down barriers and ensures every child can achieve their full potential.

This plan reflects my commitment and the Government's ongoing commitment to ensuring that the education system is inclusive and responsive to the evolving and diverse needs of families across the country. There are over 100 actions in this plan. Key priority areas include:

• Investing in special education: Open 400 new special classes; ensure all patron bodies review their admissions policies for children with special educational needs; bring forward all timelines for the 2026/2027 school year; publish the review of the EPSEN Act; introduce a mandatory placement for student teachers in a special school or special class and provide high quality professional learning opportunities for existing teachers; complete the SNA workforce development plan.
• Reducing costs: Develop a new circular for schools with an emphasis on reducing costs for parents (e.g. school uniforms); roll-out free schoolbooks to all recognised primary, special and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme; support the roll-out of free school meals and pilot a new ‘Holiday Hunger’ project.
• Improving wellbeing in schools: Take steps to tackle the use of smart phones in schools; provide €9 million in funding to schools to support new measures to tackle mobile phone use; roll out the new Neart post-primary programme, involving a partnership between NEPS and Jigsaw, providing a comprehensive suite of mental health and wellbeing resources, training and programmes for post-primary schools over the next two years; continue the roll-out and the evaluation of the Counselling and Mental Health in Wellbeing Pilot in primary schools.
• Supporting schools: Undertake an initial review of the costs of insurance in schools and circumstances around them; progress the Programme for Government commitment on capitation; roll-out the minor works grant and the ICT grant; launch the new Climate Action Summer Works Programme; progress the Programme for Government action to increase capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day today running costs and reduce the financial burden on families, as part of the estimates process.
• Teacher workforce planning: Take additional actions to improve teacher supply, including developing a workforce plan; ensure that teachers have earlier access to permanent contracts; implement the STEM bursary grant and the PME refund scheme; increase diversity in the teaching profession; allow newly qualified teachers trained outside Ireland to apply for registration and complete their induction in Ireland.
• Curriculum reform: Further progress Senior Cycle Redevelopment; publish and launch new primary school curriculum specifications.
• A new Common Application System: As a first step towards a nationwide common application system, introduce a single application system for school admissions to be in place in a number of pilot schools in 2026, ending the need for parents to make multiple applications to schools.
• Tackling educational disadvantage: Publish a new DEIS Plan in 2025; develop a new DEIS+ Programme to target the highest levels of educational disadvantage; develop initiatives to tackle disadvantage in non-DEIS schools.
• Reducing absenteeism: Introduce measures to reduce school absenteeism, including amending legislation to bring children under six years of age attending primary school within its scope to ensure earlier intervention.
• Supporting parents and students: Progress legislation to provide for a new parent and student complaints procedure; consult with children and young people on guidance for schools to support the establishment of student councils in post-primary and primary schools.
• Nationwide survey of parents: Launch a national survey of all primary school parents and pre-school parents to determine preferences for school type, including questions on teaching through Irish and multi-denominational patronage, to inform school planning in the coming years.
• Youth services co-ordination: Establish a representative group of relevant departments and state agencies that provide support or funding to youth services, to achieve greater cooperation, coherence and, where appropriate, integration of services.
• Supporting school leaders and teachers: Take actions to improve quality of teacher professional learning and school leadership supports for teachers and schools, including integrated teacher feedback; identify further actions to empower school leadership with training, mentoring and resources.
• Hosting a Convention on Education: Bring together all stakeholders in education for a Convention.
• Focussing on Irish: Publish a new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht and an action plan for Irish in English-medium schools.
• Improving school transport: Conduct an evaluation of pilot projects in 2024/25 school year to inform further roll-out of a revised scheme; commencing the introduction of eTicketing, to improve customer service data on scheme usage and to assist in planning for an expanded scheme.
• School buildings: Deliver on the National Development Plan to provide school places and upgrade existing infrastructure with a particular focus on ensuring provision for students with special educational needs and adding school place capacity; develop further actions which can be taken to drive increased use of school facilities by communities outside of school hours.