Professor Áine Hyland:

It is totally unacceptable. With regard to the points we made earlier, from now on I would argue for starting where one is.

There are band 1 and band DEIS schools, which will be called something different under the new plan, but as extra money becomes available it should be focused on the pupils, wherever they are located. It should not matter if one does not have 20% or 40% of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. If there is X amount of money allocated to each pupil who requires additional support, it goes to the school. That is the way it is done in other countries. We are unique and we started with designated schools because there was not enough money to go around but now it has become like one of the ten commandments. One has to be a DEIS school or not be one but that was never the intention 15 or 20 years ago when it started.

I accept the point about school completion and Ms Duggan made a good point about the limited school day. Suspensions sometimes occur for those reasons but not 13,000 of them. Once a pupil is on the roll on 30 September, the school gets the capitation and everything else. If the pupil is gone by 5 November, the school still gets the grant. I would check this when a pupil is suspended. There is a very good inspectorate which checks these things. The schools with the highest suspension rates are those getting the most money under school completion. That is a total contradiction. One gets extra money to help children complete school but then suspends these children. We have to think about all these things.

I have brought in a summary of the recommendations of the disadvantage committee. I will send in a note to state which have been implemented and which have not.