I am pleased to be here today to share the report of the review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs, EPSEN, Act 2004 which was published last Wednesday. It is a significant milestone in our shared work to create a more inclusive and equitable education system. The report allows for a moment of reflection - a moment to honour the hopes that inspired this landmark legislation introduced over two…
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
Show as a table
| 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
Who is incompetent?
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I join him in acknowledging the unbelievable contribution that both secretaries and caretakers play in our school community and thank them for the work they do. Obviously in recent years, progress was made through the WRC and engagement with the secretaries to change the rate of pay and the way in which they were paid. Work is under way to follow through on that and put in p…
It is important to outline that as of the end of April, 399 new classes and one class that has been given a legal direction to open, comprising a total of 400 new special classes, are being opened, coupled with places that have become available due to natural movement, meaning 3,900 new spaces are available. What I expect as Minister and what is happening now is that all of those places are being designated. Those yo…
Some 399 new special classes have been sanctioned so far for the 2025-26 school year. Of these, 287 are at primary level and 112 are at post-primary level, increasing the number of special classes by 103% since 2020. This means overall that there will be 3,700 special classes and 129 special schools in operation throughout the country. We will continue to build on that.
Just under 3,300 children and young people wer…
The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, and I have been meeting with the NCSE to make sure we are on top of the figures and understand where we are. As of yesterday, more than 92% of children have been allocated places or are in the process of that happening. Outside of Dublin, where there are still places to be allocated, there are pathways for every child. For example, in our county of Meath, there are no places to…
On the children the Deputy mentioned, I will not be specific but that is why this process is important. If we do not know about a child and their needs, it is hard to identity and allocate support to them. For any child known to the NCSE in Kerry or anywhere, as far as I and the NCSE are concerned, there are places available and being provided. That is being worked through at the moment. The biggest challenge is in D…
I will take it back to what we are discussing, and that is leaving certificate reform. It is important to stress we are living through a period of rapid change and it is essential that we equip children and young people with the skills and competencies they need to succeed and thrive in a changing world. That is a central purpose of senior cycle redevelopment, which builds on junior cycle reform which started to roll…
No, I do not. The Deputy said himself that teachers want leaving certificate reform. It is something they agree with. I point to the fact 73% of TUI members voted in favour of the measures. The ASTI and the TUI engaged very positively with my Department on this package of measures and asked for much of what is in this document. The vote was not on whether they support leaving certificate reform or otherwise; it was o…
Is the Deputy willing to stand over the current situation? It is already the case that students with more money can access grinds and better supports. What we are doing is actually making it fairer. I had a group meeting recently with people from across different divides, including a woman who works in Maynooth University and comes from a very difficult background where she was not encouraged to go to school or suppo…
I am saying we need to support teachers to embrace AI and we need to make sure they can deal with challenges when they arise. There is more work to do; I appreciate that.
Information is being provided and more work is being done. An AI committee will be set up and teachers will be part of it. It is very important we get this right. AI is here to stay and we need to make sure we benefit from it.
As has just been discussed, senior cycle redevelopment is about recognising and meeting the promise of education and enabling students to navigate the dynamic and ever-changing world around them by helping them to develop their talents, skills and understanding. Every child is different and has different abilities and, by bringing in these additional assessment components, we will make sure every child has the opport…
As to the Deputy’s first point, I refer to the former Minister, Ruairí Quinn, who introduced junior cycle reform in the face of challenges. That work was followed up on by another former Minister, Jan O’Sullivan.
Very soon after that, in 2016, leaving certificate reform started. This is not accelerated. It takes time and will be done on a phased basis.
On the supports, in the past six months alone, €20 million in a…
The significant body of work being done with the inclusion of the TUI, the ASTI and all the representative groups is to make sure we produce the best leaving certificate possible to support students in the best way. We are not introducing 100% additional assessment components. There will still be, for the vast majority, 60% of an exam, which is still stressful enough but obviously it is not 100%. Twenty-eight subject…
At the outset, I acknowledge the recent school visit. I was invited by the Deputy as well as Deputy Ó Muirí and others. It was important for me to visit the school. I have heard from the Deputies so often of the challenges the school faces but, in particular, how wonderful the school is. It was wonderful to meet with an príomhoide, Eimer Nic an Rí, agus all the staff there and to have an opportunity to speak to them …
We have set out the timeline. As of yesterday, there is nothing to suggest there are any issues with the work under way between the design team, the school and my Department, which means, I believe, that come September, we will be able to issue the tender. From speaking to some of the teachers when I visited the school a few weeks ago, I know that is the biggest concern. They have got to certain points and it has gon…
As I said, €405 million has been invested in Irish-medium schools in the past four years alone. It means there are now 248 Gaelscoileanna and 50 Gaelcholáistí across the country. I want to see that increase.
Work is currently under way in my Department to develop a new policy on Irish-medium education. This is outside of the Gaeltachtaí. A policy for the Gaeltacht was announced recently and by all accounts, it has h…
I am aware that my Department is in receipt of an application for capital funding under the additional school accommodation scheme from the school in question. The school applied in late 2024 for the additional school accommodation and for prefabs to be replaced. This is currently being assessed under the ASA scheme. This application seeks the replacement of accommodation that is 50 years old, as the Deputy said. I a…
If anything needs to be clarified with the school, we will make sure that is the case and where work needs to be done, we will ensure this is made clear to the school. What is happening now is that the assessment is taking place, but this is something that will have to be looked at as part of the 2026-2030 overall budget. We do not have that absolute figure at the moment, so my Department is engaging with the Departm…
It has taken place-----
Yes.
Looking at the budget we have, my priority is to do several things. First and foremost, it is to ensure we have the capacity for students starting school in September this year and beyond and that we are forward planning. We still have a growing school population. While we know it is levelling out, in primary school numbers, and particularly in certain areas in Dublin, these numbers are still increasing. It is the sa…
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Tackling educational disadvantage and, in particular, supporting students who are most at risk or in need of support to achieve their full potential is a priority for me, for the Minister of State and for this Government. The DEIS programme is a key policy of the Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. It provides a targeted rang…
I thank the Deputy and appreciate the example she outlined. I know in some situations there may be two schools next to each other where one is included in DEIS and the other is not. Siblings from the same household might even be going to both schools. Because of the way the DEIS programme is applied now, it is based on the population in the school and it is possible to have differentiations. Even though students migh…