Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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272. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the spend to date on the school attendance campaign; and the overall expected spend. [23356/26]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my department and operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. TESS has three strands namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) scheme and the School Completion Programme (SCP). The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, parents and guardians and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people.

In May 2025, the then Minister for Education and Youth announced a comprehensive suite of targeted and universal actions to improve school attendance. Among the key initiatives was a national multimedia campaign, developed by my department and TESS in consultation with key stakeholders.

The campaign “Every School Day is a New Day” was launched in September 2025 to raise awareness of the school attendance issue with parents and guardians, to communicate the many positive benefits that daily attendance at school provides for our children and young people and to signpost the available supports for schools, parents and guardians.

Campaign activity included video advertisements across television, on-demand streaming services, cinemas and social media, advertisements on billboards, bus shelters, airports, service stations; radio advertisements across local and national radio stations; print advertisements in local and national newspapers; and a sponsored feature in the Children’s Health & Wellbeing supplement of the Irish Independent.

A second phase of the “Every School Day is a New Day” campaign began in early March 2026, and will continue through to 30 March 2026, with ads running across television, radio, digital, social media and out of home. My department and TESS developed two new radio ads, one aimed at parents and guardians of primary school children, and the second aimed at parents and guardians of post-primary school students. All other formats of the advertisement used for phase 2 were existing creatives from the first phase of the campaign.

The costs of the first and second phases of the school attendance campaign “Every School Day is a New Day” are as follows: