Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

The Cathaoirleach is right. The last census was in 2022. The last time the scheme expanded was in 2022 when 100 schools were added to the scheme. The data was not available to the Department at the time. I hope that when we are developing a new DEIS scheme, we can look not just at what kind of resources are being provided to schools in the scheme but also at how we make sure it is as accurate as possible and the data is as time-sensitive and relevant as possible. This is still being worked through. I gave a very clear commitment when I came into the Department that we would have a new DEIS plan by the end of this year. That is very much on track and that is what I intend to do. My intention is to make sure we have a visible picture in real time as of what school situations are, the make-up of the school, the children in it, what their needs are and how we reflect it in the overall programme. About 260,000 children are already being supported through the scheme. I appreciate that there are many more schools that would like to be included in it but there are other schools that are not DEIS and are not necessarily going to be DEIS but very clearly have children with educational needs and a significant level of disadvantage so the question is how we make sure there is a scheme and supports in place for them.