Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very keen that the school transport review would take place as soon as possible. We are currently scoping out the terms of reference. We will proceed with that as expeditiously as possible. We are seeking to roll out the 50% programme also, but we will be moving apace with that.

There are 887 schools currently in the DEIS programme, which caters for approximately 20% of the school population as we know it. Significant resources have been spent on DEIS programmes. We are finalising the new DEIS identification model and we are working as quickly as we possibly can on that. It is a positive step forward that the education support services are coming within our remit from Tusla. We will have the education welfare service, the home school community liaison, and the school completion programme. As I said earlier, there is a particular package of additional resources being made available to us this year, including DEIS and pupil-teacher ratios, and the other aspect of DEIS to which I referred. When that package is announced I will be in a better position to give members more concrete detail on what it will mean going forward. It is an excellent programme that delivers very well in our schools. The more we can expand it and the more we can progress it, the better.