I thank the Deputy. I will conclude by saying that the sharing of data has been really helpful. It has indicated that there has been a cross-duplication of applications which have been submitted to a number of schools. The Deputy has already referenced those that are coming into the area from outside. As regards the specific Athenry-Oranmore local electoral area, between 2017 and 2022 the completion of the building of houses was 2.5 times greater than what had been achieved in the previous five-year period. The spu…

Under the Teaching Council Acts 2001 to 2015, the Teaching Council is the body with the statutory authority and responsibility for the regulation of the teaching profession in Ireland, including the registration of teachers in the State. The Teaching Council is the professional standards body for the teaching profession and it promotes and regulates professional standards in teaching. The council registers teachers under the Teaching Council Act and there are five routes to registration. The Covid-19 amendment regu…

For the record, we have 1 million students, 4,000 schools and more than 100,000 staff in place, the highest number of staff ever in place. We have the lowest pupil-teacher ratio that we have ever had at a ratio of 23:1. In each of the 3,000 special classes, there are six pupils, one teacher and two SNAs, which is a very low ratio, as is right and correct. We have never had as many staff in the system as we have currently. With specific regard to this application for teachers who do their training abroad, I must be …

As I said in my previous reply, through engagement with the Teaching Council on this matter, I can advise and will advise again that the council is considering any further amendment to provide for the completion of induction in Ireland for overseas-qualified teachers in the context of its legislative framework, including relevant EU legislation. I again say to the Deputy that teachers are only qualified when they do the induction. It has been possible in the past, due to a temporary measure being introduced, that t…

Castlebar Educate Together National School was established as a four-class school under the terms of a divestment process in September 2016. I am very pleased to confirm that a capital project to provide a new permanent eight-classroom school building for the school is included in the Department of Education's school building programme pipeline. This capital project is at site acquisition stage. The site acquisition process is being progressed in line with standard acquisition protocols. The Department has engaged …

The Department has not been found wanting in making the additional facilities available. At the time of the establishment in 2016, the school was designated as a four-classroom school with the agreement of the patron. That is what the patron agreed to, and it was agreed with the patron that enrolments would be managed within the available accommodation. It was agreed the school would grow to eight classes when a suitable permanent solution or suitable accommodation could be put in place. In 2016, the four-class sch…

I absolutely agree with the Deputy. There is excellent work happening in the school every single day. The Department has not been found wanting when it comes to resourcing Mayo. More than €111 million between 2020 and 2024 has been expended on buildings in the Mayo school area. That is 46 school building projects. There are 11 additional accommodation and large-scale projects currently in the Department's school building programme pipeline across the county. In those four years, more than €530 million has been shar…

The provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary level, including children and young people with special educational needs, is a priority for the Department. At a national level, Ireland has been experiencing growth in overall post-primary enrolments, and this is projected to continue in many parts of the country for the coming years before beginning to decline. However, first-year enrolments nationally are expected to have peaked in the current school year a…

The Deputy is correct there has been significant investment in Kildare in the past four years. Whether it is new schools or extension of school accommodation, the Department has not been found wanting. I will request an update on the school the Deputy mentioned and ensure he receives it. In the round, we are told there are 400 more places in the system for sixth class than is required. We are also reminded that first year enrolments will peak this year. Notwithstanding that, we are confident that where there is a n…

I acknowledge the Deputy has a particular commitment to education and engages with me on an ongoing basis in relation to it. In the vast majority of areas, through the work of schools, their patron bodies, their management bodies and the Department of Education, there are sufficient school places available to meet the needs of children in the area for 2024-25. The Department is working with schools individually and collectively, and with their patrons, to make additional places available where required for 2024-25.…

The civic, social and political education, CSPE, programme, along with physical education, PE, and social, personal, and health education, SPHE, form the core pillars of the mandatory well-being aspect of the curriculum at junior cycle. The 100-hour CSPE short course, which was introduced in 2016 and updated in 2021, contributes to building the skills students need to contribute positively to a democratic society and to promote sustainable living. Building on related learning experiences in primary education, CSPE …

All of our 722 post-primary schools provide CSPE. That includes our 232 DEIS schools. Oversight of that is by our inspectorate, which visits schools, whether on an unannounced basis, an incidental inspection or for a planned and longer term inspection. As part of the longer term inspection - the whole-school evaluation, as it is called - CSPE is inspected, verified and overseen by the inspector for the duration of the time that they are evaluating what is happening in the school. It is an important subject which sp…

This is inspected by the inspectorate. All inspections of a school are published. They are available for perusal by anyone who wishes to do so. That is important and it speaks to the breadth of work that happens in schools every day and the excellence, determination and focus by staff in schools preparing students for the next chapters in their lives. It also speaks to the transparency that is so important in the education sector. They are freely available for anyone to inspect the views and the findings of the ins…

The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year more than 161,600 children are being transported on a daily basis to schools throughout the country. This figure comprises more than 135,000 pupils travelling on mainstream services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and 6,800 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine. The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02 million. Under the current terms of …

To be fair, the Deputy did not reference the route when the question was submitted. I will revert to her on this specific case. I will ask for it to be looked at.

The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, as I said previously, 161,600 children availed of or are availing of the school transport scheme. That comprises 135,000 pupils travelling on mainstream services, 19,800 pupils with special educational needs, and almost 7,000 pupils who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine. The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02 million. Under the current terms of the school t…

I want to reiterate that more than 161,000 young people are currently availing of the system. They are being transported to and from school every single day. It is a hugely important service. I come from a rural constituency. Nobody appreciates or understands its value as much as I do, and I know Deputies across the floor of the House understand that. However, we have a greater ambition in that we want an additional 100,000 students to be in a position to avail of the school transport system. It is for that reason …

I will be repeating myself now. The school transport scheme is operated by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education, as we said. We have more than 161,600 young people availing of it. That figure is divided into children travelling on mainstream services and children with special educational needs who are travelling. The total cost of the scheme was in excess of €382 million in the 2023 school year. We know it is very good value for money. Families are being asked to pay €50 at primary school, €75 at po…

I thank the Deputy. The second-nearest school scheme is called the temporary alleviation measures, TAMs. It is in place currently and will be in place for the 2024-25 school year. I want to be clear in explaining what TAMs actually means. Under these measures, transport is provided where there is a route in operation and where capacity exists for concessionary post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school but are attending their second-nearest school, and who applied and paid on time. S…

Yes. The Deputy makes a fair point. If students are eligible and their first school is full, on receipt of verifying documentation the next school becomes the first school. I take the Deputy's point that people may not be sufficiently aware of that and it is something we should look at with regard to communication.