Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 February 2026
146. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth the way in which her Department intends to address recent findings that education policy-making in Ireland remains cautious and fragmented, and is not keeping pace with rapid technological changes including artificial intelligence; and the reforms planned to ensure schools can respond effectively to emerging challenges. [11014/26]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the education system plays a central role in Ireland’s economic, social and cultural development. My Department has a wide policy remit as reflected in the breadth of commitments for education included in the Programme for Government.
There are a diverse range of policy initiatives across the remit of my Department which includes, but is not limited to:
• curricular reform at primary and post-primary level;
• delivery of supports to those with additional learning needs;
• addressing educational disadvantage;
• diversity of school patronage and the provision of mutli-denominational education;
• expansion of the provision of Irish-medium education;
• workforce development for our teaching and non-teaching workforce in schools; and
• reform and development of school transport.
This policy-making role is combined with significant operational delivery by the Department. The development of policy involves using national and international research on learning and drawing on a range of data and evidence from a variety of sources.
In line with the key pillars of the framework and process model of good policy development as outlined in the Public Policy Handbook, published by the Government in 2025, analysis and statistics play a central role in education policy-making, ensuring that decisions are based on robust evidence and that innovation is introduced in a structured, proportionate and responsible manner.
The application of these principles supports an ambitious programme of reform and delivery of change across a diverse system which includes approximately 4000 schools serving almost one million learners.
This programme of reform is designed to ensure that the education system responds to the changes in society and technology that we are seeing and that our pupils and students are prepared for the emerging challenges into the future.
The Convention on Education, which I recently launched, will bring together key voices in education to discuss the future direction of our education system and the key challenges that it faces. The work of the Convention will be informed by the National Conversation on education, which I launched in January. This will draw on diverse voices and inputs to allow the Convention to set a path for education into the future.
