The case of the person in question, Michael, and the family's desire for answers have been raised on a number of occasions at ministerial level with the UK Government. As the Deputy mentioned, following new evidence unearthed since the dismissal of the initial inquest in 1973, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland ordered a fresh inquest into the person in question's death on 30 April 2024. Unfortunately, this new inquest was never commenced due to the UK legacy Act, introduced in May 2024. The joint framework …

This is a case that has been ongoing for some time. It is important that families, and Michael's family in particular, get answers. Once the commitments in the joint framework are translated faithfully into legislation, the legacy commission will look and feel somewhat different from what we have had in the past. The governance and oversight structures will be much clearer and stronger. They will hopefully lead to greater independence, and then investigations can be carried out to recognised standards with statutor…

In any engagement with our counterparts in the North or in the UK, we must focus on the fact that these are families and these are tragedies that we have not got answers for. That needs to be front and centre in everything we do. We have turned a corner in our own relations with the UK and I can see that clearly over the last number of years, through my time as Minister for Justice, in the councils I sit on and my engagement to date, in particular with the secretary of state, Mr. Hilary Benn MP. I stress that the j…

I welcome this opportunity to provide an update to the House on the devastating conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and to hear the views and concerns of Deputies. Many have described the conflict and its impact as a forgotten crisis. In truth, it is has at times been an ignored and sidelined crisis. It is, as we heard this morning, the worst humanitarian catastrophe happening on our planet at the moment. It is welcome that we are having these statements and this prioritisation here today. I sincerely welcom…

No, I did not.

No, I did not. The Deputy should get his timelines and facts right.

I thank Senators for the opportunity to update the House on this really important motion and overall issue. I have engaged with Senator Curley on the issue and I have met with my colleagues Senators Scahill and Nelson Murray. I know it is an extremely important issue for everybody here. The Government is not seeking to oppose the motion. The intent is very reflective of Government policy, our programme for Government commitments and the intensive work the State Examinations Commission is currently doing to develop …

I was really pleased to visit the school earlier this year. It is very clear this is a school that needs a new building. I know there have been many starts and stops for various reasons over the past number of years. It is my intention to get builders on site as soon as possible. First, it needs to go to tender. I am pleased to be able to say to the Deputy that today the school will get notice that it will go to tender from today. That will give us the opportunity to make sure next year we have builders on site bre…

I thank the Deputy for his question on this school. It is my objective as Minister for Education and Youth to progress as many projects as possible. At the moment there are about 300 between large-scale, additional accommodation and special education projects that are moving but a significant cohort will come down the line in years to come These projects are at either stage 2a or 2b, moving to tender and moving to construction. The funding that has been secured for the next NDP is €7.55 billion. What I am working o…

I am aware of the school and of the situation. The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and I meet the NCSE weekly and obviously where issues arise, we want to work with it to make sure they can be addressed as quickly as possible. Where schools have been designated or places provided but they have not come onstream yet, we are working closely with the school and parents to make sure there is a provision of education being made for the children. The overall objective is that they are in the classroom in the school a…

I am aware of this case and the situation the school is in. The Deputy has outlined exactly the structure and system that has been in place for many years now setting out how schools can retain a teacher in a developing post. It is the case that this number needs to be reached and there is always a cut-off and a threshold. I appreciate that some schools will be just under it and some will be just over it but we do need to ensure that the system is upheld. If the school does not reach that specific number, the post …

The Tánaiste responded but I am happy to respond as well. I assure the Deputy that this is being dealt with at the highest level. I have met with Maurice Patton O'Connell, Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan and Mary Dunlevy Greene twice now in the last number of weeks. The Taoiseach has met with them twice. A mediator met with them earlier this week. In between all of that, I have written to them a number of times and at every step of the way encouraged them to please come off their hunger strike. My first and for…

I thank the Deputy. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality has responsibility for provision of services to children of preschool age. The access and inclusion model, or AIM as we know it, provided by that Department enables the full inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities or additional needs in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme. Its goal is to create a more inclusive environment in preschools so that all children availing of preschool regardless of abilit…

Where a need is identified through engagement with the NCSE, this is where early intervention classes are opening. To give context - the Deputy will forgive me but I believe my figures from the Minister for children are right - approximately 96% plus of young children between the ages of three and five are accessing the ECCE scheme. Those children, without having to do any means test or assessment, are able to avail of the AIM scheme as well. That leaves fewer than 4% of young children who perhaps are not accessing…

To answer the Deputy's previous question, and rolling into the next one, the Department looks at, reviews and assesses the level of need and that includes the early intervention classes. The new timeline and the new structure we have put in place will look not just at the demand for a special class place or special school place but also at the potential demand for the early intervention classes. The 1 October deadline has passed and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and I are working with the NCSE every week …

I thank the Deputy. Tackling educational disadvantage and, in particular, supporting students to fulfil or achieve their full potential in life is a key priority for me. The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level and it is important to acknowledge the success it has been over recent years. More than €180 million is provided annually to additional supports for almost 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme. Budget 2026 allocates an additional €16 mill…

Shortly after being appointed to the role, I met with a large group of principals, deputy principals and people working in schools where there is educational disadvantage and they were clear they needed this scheme brought in as soon as possible to support and complement the huge amount of work they are doing. On identifying schools, we will not require schools to apply for inclusion. We will use a methodology to identify schools and look at evidence to inform us, including census 2022 data, HP deprivation index da…

I fully agree and am eager to get this published as soon as possible and get these measures in place. The Deputy mentioned certain things and we are looking at all the things that have been asked of the Department. I am assured the asks are based on the understanding, knowledge and experience of our schools, principals, teachers and, particularly, the children who will benefit from this. I point to the huge success so far of the DEIS programme. We have seen in recent years a reduced gap in the retention rates betwe…

Tá gealltanas i gclár an Rialtais an Ghaeilge a chosaint agus a chur chun cinn. In education this includes the work towards aligning Irish language curriculums with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFR, to enhance spoken Irish. This work is being led by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. In certain circumstances, a primary or post-primary student may be granted an exemption from studying Irish. The criteria are governed by Department circulars and decisions are made at sch…

In relation to the curriculum, a number of subjects saw a slight reduction in the time allocated to them but there is more flexibility within the time schedules, so schools can increase the number of hours provided for Irish or the time spent on Irish. The overall figure for exemptions at primary school level is extremely low. It fell from over 18,000 maybe five years ago to just over 12,000 in the 2024-25 school year. The proportion of primary students with an exemption in the same period dropped from about 3.25% …