Minister McEntee and Minister of State Moynihan publish Education Plan 2025
- Published on: 19 June 2025
- Last updated on: 23 June 2025
- over 100 actions in Education Plan 2025, including the establishment of an Education Therapy Service
- Ministers secure government approval to roll-out up to 90 therapists in 45 special schools
Minister for Education and Youth Helen McEntee and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Michael Moynihan have today (19 June) published Education Plan 2025. This comprehensive plan aims to deliver a world-class education system which breaks down barriers and ensures every child can achieve their full potential.
Minister McEntee said:
“I am delighted to publish today Education Plan 2025 — my first as Minister for Education and Youth. This is a comprehensive plan that outlines a significant body of work that I am undertaking this year to deliver for everyone in our school and youth services’ communities. My aim is to deliver a world-class education system which breaks down barriers and ensures every child and young person can achieve their full potential. I will publish a new Education Plan each year.”
Minister of State Moynihan said:
"As Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion, I am delighted to be publishing the Education Plan 2025. This plan details a list of key actions that will improve capacity, service delivery and supports for all children with additional needs and their families, as well as for staff in our schools.
“School transport plays a vital role in supporting access to education across the country. By strengthening the school transport scheme, we are delivering on our ambition to have an additional 100,000 pupils on transport by 2030.”
Education Therapy Service
Actions in Education Plan 2025, which have been brought to Government by Minister McEntee, include the establishment of the new Education Therapy Service which will see therapists working in special schools in the next school year.
Announcing that government approval to establish the Education Therapy Service has been secured, Ministers McEntee and Moynihan intend that the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) will commence work with an aim to provide 90 therapists to work in 45 special schools in the next school year.
The government has now agreed:
- that the new posts will be initially for occupational therapists and speech and language therapists
- there will be a further roll-out to other special schools in the 2026/27 school year
- that while the Education Therapy Service will commence initially in special schools, it is intended that it will roll-out subsequently in special classes and mainstream schools
- that the NCSE will commence recruitment, applying the same terms and conditions as Health Service Executive therapists, with a national recruitment campaign taking place to facilitate the recruitment of these therapists for the 2025/26 school year
- to facilitate an expressions of interest process by the HSE to allow staff from the health and disability sectors to voluntarily apply to work in the new Education Therapy Service
- that the therapeutic supports children will receive in schools will, not only build the capacity of the school community to better support all children, but also provide individualised therapeutic interventions to those children who need it
Minister McEntee continued:
“Ireland is a fantastic place to live and grow up and our schools are reflective of this. I am determined to continue to support our schools, our students and young people — and everyone who works in them and in our youth services — and Education Plan 2025 outlines steps I will take to do so.
“Supporting children with additional needs and tackling educational disadvantage are key priorities of mine. I recently received government approval for the establishment of a new Education Therapy Service which will see speech and language and occupational therapists working in up to 45 of our special schools later this year, with a further roll-out planned to other special schools in the 2026/27 school year. This will be transformational for children attending our special schools, ensuring they have early and timely access to the services that they need.
“For children attending special classes in mainstream schools, the earlier sanctioning of these classes is central to providing clarity for them and their families.
“This year, I will also publish a new DEIS plan to tackle educational disadvantage and take steps to address absenteeism.
“I will work with schools to reduce the costs they are facing and also work to reduce costs faced by parents, such as the cost of uniforms. Consultation with parents will be a key feature as I commence work to develop a new circular to tackle back-to-school costs.
“Our schools must be reflective of our society: this year I will launch a national survey of all parents of school-going and pre-school children to determine what type of education they want to see for their child, which will help inform potential future changes. I believe the voice of parents and students must be heard as we plan for future provision.
“Our schools are fantastic places for students, but also for teachers, SNAs, caretakers, secretaries and other school staff. The single biggest factor which impacts on educational outcomes for children is the quality of our teachers. I want to ensure that not only do we have the teachers we need, but that they are supported in their careers here in Ireland. Earlier access to permanent contracts is a key step I am taking.
“I am delighted that youth services are under the remit of my department. This provides real opportunities to ensure that the formal and non-formal education sectors work together to ensure the best possible outcomes for our young people. I look forward to working with youth work and youth service organisations and staff, as well as with young people, to ensure this.”
Minister of State Moynihan continued:
"By supporting those with additional needs, we will ensure that these children and young people are afforded equity of opportunity and feel valued within the education system.
"As well as working to improve the delivery timelines for the provision of appropriate special class and special school placements, I am eager to advance the development of the Education Therapy Service, beginning first in special schools before extending to special classes in mainstream schools. This will be transformative for not just children receiving therapies in school, but for how it will support the wider school community too. Ultimately, I believe, this will also ease the strain and stress that parents can feel in accessing therapy support.
"As I have said previously, SNAs are a pivotal part of our school communities, providing a meaningful and positive school experience for children with special educational needs. Work to finalise the SNA workforce development plan is ongoing and it will help pave the way for how best to support SNAs into the future, while also ensuring appropriate supports are in place to facilitate attendance and participation by all children in school."
Education Plan 2025 sets out the actions which will be implemented each quarter by the department. Half year progress reports will be published. A new Education Plan will be published each year.
Other measures in Education Plan 2025 include:
Investing in special education: Open 400 new special classes; ensure all patron bodies review their admissions policies for children with special educational needs; bring forward all timelines for the 2026/2027 school year; publish the review of the EPSEN Act; introduce a mandatory placement for student teachers in a special school or special class and provide high quality professional learning opportunities for existing teachers; complete the SNA workforce development plan.
Reducing costs: Develop a new circular for schools with an emphasis on reducing costs for parents (e.g. school uniforms); roll-out free schoolbooks to all recognised primary, special and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme; support the roll-out of free school meals and pilot a new ‘Holiday Hunger’ project.
Improving wellbeing in schools: Take steps to tackle the use of smart phones in schools; provide €9 million in funding to schools to support new measures to tackle mobile phone use; roll out the new Neart post-primary programme, involving a partnership between NEPS and Jigsaw, providing a comprehensive suite of mental health and wellbeing resources, training and programmes for post-primary schools over the next two years; continue the roll-out and the evaluation of the Counselling and Mental Health in Wellbeing Pilot in primary schools.
Supporting schools: Undertake an initial review of the costs of insurance in schools and circumstances around them; progress the Programme for Government commitment on capitation; roll-out the minor works grant and the ICT grant; launch the new Climate Action Summer Works Programme; progress the Programme for Government action to increase capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day today running costs and reduce the financial burden on families, as part of the estimates process.
Teacher workforce planning: Take additional actions to improve teacher supply, including developing a workforce plan; ensure that teachers have earlier access to permanent contracts; implement the STEM bursary grant and the PME refund scheme; increase diversity in the teaching profession; allow newly qualified teachers trained outside Ireland to apply for registration and complete their induction in Ireland.
Curriculum reform: Further progress Senior Cycle Redevelopment; publish and launch new primary school curriculum specifications.
A new Common Application System: As a first step towards a nationwide common application system, introduce a single application system for school admissions to be in place in a number of pilot schools in 2026, ending the need for parents to make multiple applications to schools.
Tackling educational disadvantage: Publish a new DEIS Plan in 2025; develop a new DEIS+ Programme to target the highest levels of educational disadvantage; develop initiatives to tackle disadvantage in non-DEIS schools.
Reducing absenteeism: Introduce measures to reduce school absenteeism, including amending legislation to bring children under six years of age attending primary school within its scope to ensure earlier intervention.
Supporting parents and students: Progress legislation to provide for a new parent and student complaints procedure; consult with children and young people on guidance for schools to support the establishment of student councils in post-primary and primary schools.
Nationwide survey of parents: Launch a national survey of all primary school parents and pre-school parents to determine preferences for school type, including questions on teaching through Irish and multi-denominational patronage, to inform school planning in the coming years.
Youth services co-ordination: Establish a representative group of relevant departments and state agencies that provide support or funding to youth services, to achieve greater cooperation, coherence and, where appropriate, integration of services.
Supporting school leaders and teachers: Take actions to improve quality of teacher professional learning and school leadership supports for teachers and schools, including integrated teacher feedback; identify further actions to empower school leadership with training, mentoring and resources.
Hosting a Convention on Education: Bring together all stakeholders in education for a Convention.
Focussing on Irish: Publish a new policy on Irish-medium education outside of the Gaeltacht and an action plan for Irish in English-medium schools.
Improving school transport: Conduct an evaluation of pilot projects in 2024/25 school year to inform further roll-out of a revised scheme; commencing the introduction of eTicketing, to improve customer service data on scheme usage and to assist in planning for an expanded scheme.
School buildings: Deliver on the National Development Plan to provide school places and upgrade existing infrastructure with a particular focus on ensuring provision for students with special educational needs and adding school place capacity; develop further actions which can be taken to drive increased use of school facilities by communities outside of school hours.
