Cabinet to discuss inquiry into child sex abuse in schools 

Hildegarde Naughton will tell Cabinet colleagues the four appointments will include a senior legal consultant and child safeguarding experts

Four commissioners will be appointed to Ireland's Commission of Investigation into the Handling of Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Schools. Picture: iStock

Four commissioners will be appointed to the Commission of Investigation into the Handling of Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Schools under plans to be discussed by Cabinet on Tuesday morning.

Education minister Hildegarde Naughton will tell colleagues that the appointments will include a senior legal consultant and child safeguarding experts.

The commission was established last year following a key recommendation of the scoping inquiry into abuse in schools run by religious orders.

The inquiry detailed almost 2,400 allegations of sexual abuse across more than 300 religious-run schools.

A government source said the appointment of the commissioners “marks an important milestone in addressing the painful legacy of abuse in Irish day and boarding schools”.

Offshore wind energy

Elsewhere, enterprise minister Peter Burke is bringing a memo to Government aimed at securing Ireland’s share of the offshore wind energy boom and making sure Irish SMEs can benefit.

The memo will highlight the delivery of the powering prosperity strategy, designed to lock in jobs, investment, and exports from offshore wind.

About 97.5% of the actions are now completed or underway, Cabinet will hear.

Enterprise Ireland has backed the sector with €11.7m in grants for supplychain firms, boosting skills, training, and scale-up, with the State also taking direct equity stakes in strategic projects to accelerate growth.

Early learning and childcare funding

The minister for children, disability, and equality, Norma Foley, meanwhile, will announce funding for additional early learning and childcare places.

Phase two of the building blocks extension scheme will provide grants for extensions to existing early learning and childcare services.

The grants will be open to community and private providers who are signed up to core funding.

The scheme will run in tandem with the State-led early learning and childcare capital programme, for which €135m is being made available over the next five years.

Inclusion strategy 

Ms Foley is also bringing a memo to Cabinet about the first annual report of the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy II 2024-2028.

Tertiary education 

Higher education minister James Lawless will brief Cabinet on the National Tertiary Education Strategy, which will provide a national framework to support over 500,000 learners and align education and training with Ireland’s future skills needs.

It will operate across 14 higher education institutions and 16 education and training boards, with around 1,500 buildings embedded in communities nationwide.

Retrofitting and energy upgrades 

The minister for climate, energy, and the environment, Darragh O’Brien, will update Cabinet on home energy upgrades, with an expected 73,000 upgrades expected to take place in 2026.

Mr O’Brien will tell ministers there are 350 applications for heat pump installations in the first quarter of the year, as well as over 7,000 applications for window and door upgrades.

There have also been 1,730 applications for attic insulation and over 1,000 applications for cavity wall insulation.

• Louise Burne, Political Correspondent 
• Tadgh McNally, Political Reporter
• Jess Casey, Education Correspondent