James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I echo what Deputy Devlin was saying on home-school liaison. Some schools that were lucky enough to be included in the DEIS bands following the recent review, but others were very disappointed. There is a particular social need in Youghal in County Cork and what happened with DEIS - to which I will return in a moment - was rather perplexing. Beyond DEIS allocation, that provision of a home-school liaison service to schools is critical in communities with that acute need. I would like to see further emphasis on that.

I am a bit perplexed about the allocation of the DEIS status. Obviously financially it is quite expensive for the Department to do it. I acknowledge it results in a reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio and the other additional benefits that come with that allocation. We have three primary schools and one post primary school in Youghal. Following the review, despite all of them being in the same Pobal index, one of the schools got it on appeal and the other three did not. It was a primary school, the smallest of the three. The secondary school also missed out on it. I come from that area which is economically challenged. I was mesmerised as to why one was given it on appeal and the other three were just ignored. It is often discussed here in the PAC when officials from the Department of integration and others have been before us. That town with a population of about 8,000, took on 1,000 migrants with the sale of the Quality Hotel. Per capita, it has one of the highest concentrations of IPAS and Ukrainian refugees. It is a space for families and so there are a lot of children involved here. That was not included in the analysis. I would like to get an insight from the Secretary General on that.