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 Dunleavy 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…
TDs / Helen McEntee
Helen McEntee
Minister for DefenceMinister for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
245,309
words spoken in the chamber
245,286 as a minister, 23 as a TD
321
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 806 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
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| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 58 |
| March 2025 | 1 |
| April 2025 | 69 |
| May 2025 | 45 |
| June 2025 | 32 |
| July 2025 | 38 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 8 |
| October 2025 | 13 |
| November 2025 | 74 |
| December 2025 | 40 |
| January 2026 | 2 |
| February 2026 | 28 |
| March 2026 | 32 |
| April 2026 | 2 |
| May 2026 | 161 |
| June 2026 | 34 |
| July 2026 | 65 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 50 |
| October 2026 | 54 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 727 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Meath East 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Education 23 January 2025 to 1 May 2025
- office Minister for Education and Youth 2 May 2025 to 18 November 2025
- office Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 18 November 2025 to now
- office Minister for Defence 18 November 2025 to now
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…
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 …
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 deadlin…
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 s…
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 id…
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 …
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…
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 ye…
I assure the Deputy there is no inertia or lack of will to support young people studying the language. I was in a school yesterday and was asked this question by a student. I want students to enjoy studying the language and, most importantly, speaking it.
On the figures, it is important to say that in the 2024-25 school year, there were over 19,000 exemptions. That is higher than we would like. At the same time, giv…
This Government is fully committed to ensuring that every child has a positive school experience with access to qualified and engaged teachers who are completely dedicated and committed to supporting their learning. It is fair to say that we have a fantastic cohort of teachers who are committed to just that.
Over 97% of allocated teaching posts are filled and the number of unfilled allocated posts in DEIS or rural s…
One of the first things that I did, and this was directly in response to an ask from the unions, was make changes to ensure that teachers were able to gain permanent roles more quickly, after one year as opposed to two. That was one of the first asks that I had. It was one of the first things that I did and I have said that I will do more.
The Deputy mentioned the fact that there are certain subjects, in particular …
I think I have been clear as Minister that nothing is off the table but I have also shown that I am willing to take action on certain measures. Reducing the length of time for permanent contracts was the first one. Only in recent weeks, I made sure that people who have qualified abroad can have their skills recognised here, and I am doing it for a longer period and potentially putting that on a more permanent footing…
We need to look at all of those.
I think I have been very clear.
The Deputy either wants to hear the answer or does not.
The Deputy either wants to hear the answer or does not.
I cannot do everything at once. What I have said clearly is that I am willing to look at every measure. In fact, I have met with the unions many times. My teams engage with them regularly on all of the issues that the Deputy has outlined but he is talking about giving teachers an opportunity to move from Dublin to other areas when it is clear that the shortages are in Dublin and some of the larger populated areas. We…
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am conscious and aware of both schools. I regularly visit schools, including the two the Deputy has mentioned.
My Department has a strong focus on provision for school place needs, underpinned by robust forward planning including demographic analysis informed by residential development plans. Dunshaughlin is an area that has seen significant growth. It will continue to s…
That is the next stage.
There is nothing unusual or different in this project. I cannot fully commit to the reasons other contractors pulled out. Perhaps there was other work they were doing and there was too heavy a load. Again, we cannot change the reasons for it. We can just make sure that the work is being done now to make sure the next stage can be moved onto as quickly as possible. There are no delays at present. It is a matter of goi…
Over the past five years alone, 1,300 projects have been progressed. These are new schools, large-scale projects, additional accommodation projects and emergency works projects. There have been 1,300 projects over the past five years. That is €6 billion that is being spent right across the country. Looking at the work that has been done, I compliment the work of the building unit and the team in the Department becaus…
I was pleased to be in a position to officially launch the new online survey for our primary schools today. This essentially enables parents and guardians of children in primary school, and of those who will attend primary school, and the teachers, staff and boards of management in our primary schools, to take part in a survey. There were three very simple and straightforward questions in the survey: whether people w…
While this survey is for primary schools, this will last for six weeks and then we will need time to collate that information and decide based on the responses where there needs to be further engagement with communities if there is a demand for change. On the issue of patronage, there is not the same breakdown that we might see in primary schools. About 50% of our post-primary schools are denominational and about 50%…
I acknowledge the Deputy's absolute commitment to supporting our special schools and supporting children with additional needs. Working with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, I was really pleased to have been able to secure additional funding in the budget. There was an anomaly there when students reached the age of 12 that they were not receiving the capitation funding that other students in mainstream schools…