Parliamentary questions

161. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will provide an update on the current status of a project (details supplied), including a delivery timeline. [22067/25]

162. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will provide details of unfilled and vacant posts currently in primary schools in North Kildare, including those unfilled from maternity or other long-term leave, in tabular form. [22068/25]

163. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will provide an update on the school reconfiguration programme at primary level for 2025, including schools currently engaged in the process. [22069/25]

164. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Youth to comment on options available to parents of children with additional needs who wish to make complaints about the treatment of their children in schools (details supplied); beyond complaints to Boards of Management the recourse parents have when they feel their children have been badly treated or their rights infringed upon [22093…

165. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Youth to give a detailed account of guidelines and training given to teachers, SNAs and other school staff in relation to "challenging behaviour" in children with additional educational needs. [22094/25]

166. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Youth to give a detailed account of the use of seclusion and restraint in schools as a means of dealing with "challenging behaviour" in children with additional educational needs, including the most recent figures for the prevalence of seclusion and restraint; the steps taken since the last report on seclusion and restraint in schools fr…

167. Deputy George Lawlor asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she is aware that persons employed as bus escorts for students in special needs schools are not paid during holiday periods and are entitled to minimum social welfare payments to cover these periods; the plan she has to ensure that such valuable workers are appropriately remunerated in order to attract workers into this import…

168. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth her plans to roll out the Government proposal of phone pouches in schools; if she has a timeline for the roll out; if there is a plan as to who will administer this in schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22104/25]

169. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will reinstate the previous routes which were available to people, such as teaching assistants already working in education, to allow them to become fully qualified teachers under route 4; and what can be done about the practice of educational institutions preying on the opacity of the teaching council registration system t…

170. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth to confirm that all Ministers of State within her Department have had their ministerial powers delegated to them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22128/25]

171. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth if there are plans to increase the minimum age for leaving school from 16; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22197/25]

172. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Education and Youth to significantly increase funding to a national school in County Kerry (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22223/25]

173. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Education and Youth when correspondence from her Department will issue to a person in County Mayo (details supplied). [22225/25]

174. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she can confirm that she has in her role as Minister the discretionary powers to provide for a larger central activities space than the standard size for all SEN bases built in certain cases (details supplied); her views on whether given the scale of an extension granted that this school and others with similar large extensi…

175. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on the proposal to refurbish a school (details supplied) in Limerick to use for special classes; if she is aware that the recently announced second special class at the school is to be located at the original single special classroom; her plans to deal with this obvious overcrowding; and if she will make a statement …

176. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of cycle to work scheme applications processed by her Department and its agencies, affiliated agencies or subordinate agencies, each year from 2020 to 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22318/25]

177. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Education and Youth the measures her Department is taking to ensure that children in publicly funded schools are not required to attend religious instruction against the wishes of their parents, in line with the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution; if she supports children's constitutional rights not t…

178. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Youth if her Department will sanction a school bus to run between two Clare locations (details supplied), despite not being the closest school, due to the high number of students who would avail of the bus and the convenience it would provide to them and their families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22374/25]

179. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth the estimated additional cost of increasing the primary school capitation grant by €75 per pupil for the period 1 September to 31 December 2026; the estimated additional cost of maintaining such an increase for a full year, from 1 January to 31 December 2027; and to provide, in each case, a detailed breakdown of the total additiona…

180. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth the estimated cost of reducing average class sizes in mainstream primary schools by two pupils per class for the period 1 October to 31 December 2026; the estimated cost of maintaining this reduction for a full year, from 1 January to 31 December 2027, with the same detailed breakdown of additional expenditure. [22392/25]

181. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of students in Kerry that are deaf and hard of hearing in post-primary schools; the number of special education classes that are currently available; the plans she has to make additional special education classes available during the next school term; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22398/25]

182. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will clarify the number of sraith pictiúr the incoming sixth years will have to learn under the new Leaving Certificate reforms. [22403/25]

183. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will allocate additional teacher posts to a school (details supplied), which has several classes with significant above average student numbers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22431/25]

184. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will review the process where teacher allocations to schools are made based on the student numbers of the previous year considering the challenges this presents in schools that see a large enrolment in any given year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22432/25]

185. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Education and Youth for details on the current provision of special school placements nationally at primary and secondary level, in particular, the name and location of the school, the number of class places and the population size served. [22436/25]