Questions

278. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Education and Youth when will the second round of offers be announced; and will consideration be given to a school (details supplied) who require urgent works done to the toilet facilities. [75019/26]

279. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she can guarantee that the Department engage with a school (details supplied) to ensure that the SEN Transport Application is submitted without further delay; and if her Department, the NCSE and the school will work together to ensure that the assessment and transport process does not take too long for the family. [75111/26]

280. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 332 of 13 October 2026, whether a principal or board of management may lawfully require a parents' association to obtain prior approval before communicating with the parents of pupils in the school; and if so, to state the specific statutory basis for such a requirement. [75056/26]

281. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 331 of 13 October 2026, if she will confirm whether any provision of the Education Act 1998, or of any other enactment, confers on a principal, board of management or patron the power to suspend or dissolve a parents' association established under section 26 of the Act; and if such a power exists, to state the spe…

282. Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Education and Youth the criteria used to select schools for the rollout of the new dyslexia and literacy intervention programme; and whether a school (details supplied) will be considered for inclusion. [75254/26]

283. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on a project (details supplied); and if she will engage with the school management on the project. [75315/26]

284. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Youth the consequences for children who cannot secure an appropriate special education place for September 2027. [75313/26]

285. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of special education places are expected to be available in Waterford city and county for September 2027. [75310/26]

286. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the total amount of funding issued under the grant scheme for ICT infrastructure (and predecessor schemes under the Digital Strategy for Schools) in each of the years 2016 to date; of that total, the amount that was expended by schools on software licences, subscriptions, cloud-based tools, learning platforms and education applications as opposed to h…

288. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of additional ASD classes or special school places planned for Waterford city and county for September 2027; and when these will be confirmed. [75311/26]

289. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of children in Waterford city and county that require special education places for September 2027. [75308/26]

290. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth to clarify if English language schools for foreign nationals are subject to inspection by her Department. [75135/26]

291. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the cumulative value of ICT grant funding that has been spent on annual or multi-year software licences, subscriptions and cloud services since the commencement of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015–2020; whether the Department regards this expenditure as constituting a recurring revenue stream for the commercial suppliers concerned; and if she wil…

292. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth to set out the public procurement frameworks, dynamic purchasing systems or national agreements currently available to schools for the purchase of educational software licences and cloud services; the identity of the suppliers on those frameworks; whether the Department or the Office of Government Procurement has negotiated volume discounts or educati…

293. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether schools are required to report, either to the Department, the Financial Support Services Unit or their Education and Training Board, the identity of suppliers and the amounts paid for software licences and subscriptions purchased with ICT grant funding; if such reporting is not currently required, whether she intends to introduce it; and the r…

294. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth to list, in descending order of value, the ten commercial suppliers or product suites that received the largest amounts of ICT grant funding from schools for software licences, subscriptions or cloud services in each of the years 2022 to date; the percentage of total software-related ICT grant expenditure accounted for by the top three suppliers in ea…

295. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to the grant scheme for ICT Infrastructure, whether the Department holds, or can obtain from schools or education and training boards, data on the value of expenditure made from ICT grant funding with companies or product families (details supplied) in each of the last five years; and any other learning platform or educational application on w…

306. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage which body has ultimate authority for interpreting the provisions of the local government superannuation scheme in relation to ill-health retirement and professional added years, namely the Department, local authorities, MyPay, or another body; and the appeals or review mechanisms available where conflicting advice is issued. [750…

307. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether professional added years awarded under the local government superannuation scheme are subject to clawback where an employee retires on certified ill-health grounds after reaching 60 years-of-age; the legislative basis for his Department's position; and if he will provide details of the relevant statutory provisions and cir…

308. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his Department's policy regarding members of the local government superannuation scheme who retire on certified ill-health grounds after attaining the minimum retirement age of 60 years; whether such retirements are regarded as ill-health retirements or standard retirements for pension calculation purposes; and if he will make a s…

309. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way in which a homeowner in an affected apartment or duplex can access the apartment and duplex defects remediation scheme where applications must be made by a management company that does not own the property; whether an individual homeowner can apply directly where the management company is unwilling or unable to apply; and t…

310. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a member of the local government superannuation scheme who entered local authority service prior to 1 April 2004 and who was awarded professional added years in accordance with the scheme retains the full benefit of those added years where they retire on certified permanent ill-health grounds after attaining age 60; if not, the…

311. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if, in the case of a member of the local government superannuation scheme who entered local authority service prior to 1 April 2004, who is entitled to professional added years under the local government superannuation scheme and who retires on certified permanent ill-health grounds after attaining the age of 60 years but before n…

312. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to review the ethics framework for SPC sectoral members, given public concern about the data-centre zoning in the Naas Local Area Plan 2021–2027. [75222/26]

313. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will outline the checks that exist to ensure a person who served on an SPC while a development plan or local area plan was being prepared did not take part in deliberations on zoning that benefited a company they direct; and the sanctions that apply where a declaration was not made. [75221/26]