Minister for Education and Youth
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Hiberno-English Template:Infobox official post The Minister for Education and Youth (Template:Langx) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Education and Youth. The current Minister for Education and Youth is Hildegarde Naughton, TD.
She is assisted by one Minister of State:
Functions
The minister engages in a wide range of activities relating to education in Ireland, including policy planning, quality assurance and the provision of a broad range of services.
The department officially aims to:
- Promote equity and inclusion
- Promote lifelong learning
- Plan for education that is relevant to personal, social, cultural and economic needs.
In recent years some of these functions have been devolved to statutory authorities, in particular the Higher Education Authority, the National Qualifications Authority and the State Examinations Commission. Irish universities and colleges are to a large extent free of government control, with this being largely limited to policy formation and statistics preparation.
History
In 1919, the Gaelic League passed a motion calling for the Dáil to appoint a Minister for Irish to promote the use of the Irish language throughout the country, which was read into the record of the Dáil by the Ceann Comhairle.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> On 29 June 1920, John J. O'Kelly, known in Irish as Seán Ua Ceallaigh, and also by the pen name Sceilg, was appointed as Minister for Irish.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
After the Second Dáil met in August 1921, the President Éamon de Valera proposed that this position be altered to that of Minister for Education, saying "It was obvious the Minister in charge should be capable of dealing with the part referring to Irish but he thought the Department should have a wider meaning than at present". This was accepted by the Dáil.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The following day, when de Valera proposed his new ministry, O'Kelly was proposed as Minister for Education, continuing in his previous position with an expanded function.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
It was given a statutory basis in the Irish Free State as one of the positions in the Executive Council under the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924.
List of office-holders
- Notes
References
External links
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