Norma Foley TD was appointed Minister for Education in June 2020. The Department has policy responsibility for early years, primary and post-primary education in Ireland. Minister Foley has led the Department of Education during the pandemic, with a strong focus on ensuring ongoing dialogue and engagement with all education stakeholders. Following closure due to COVID-19 in March 2020, she has overseen the re-opening of schools in Autumn 2020, putting in place a multi-million euro package of support measures for school communities. She has overseen the successful development and delivery of alternative assessment mechanisms to facilitate students leaving post-primary schools to progress to further and higher education and the world of work, when traditional examinations were not possible due to COVID-19.
Minister Foley has a passionate interest in excellence and equity in education, most notably when she provided for the inclusion of the student voice as a partner in education and presided over the single biggest expansion of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme.
Amongst the key initiatives progressed during her first two and a half years in office Minister Foley has announced the biggest ever expansion of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools (DEIS) programme ensuring that one out of every four of our students can now avail of DEIS supports. Minister Foley has also undertaken the first comprehensive reform of the Leaving Certificate Programme since the foundation of the State and has recently unveiled Cineáltas, the Department’s new Action Plan on Bullying and introduced the landmark scheme that provides parents of children at primary school with free books and classroom resources.
Prior to her election to Dáil Eireann and appointment as Minister, Ms Foley worked as a post-primary teacher in her home town of Tralee. A graduate of University College Cork, she served as a member of Kerry County Council for many years and has held the position of Mayor of Tralee on two occasions and also has served as Mayor of County Kerry and served three terms as Mayor of Tralee.
