James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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What really gets under my fingernails on this issue is the fact that this applies even in a small town. It would be different if it was in the city centre where there is obviously huge difference. On any one street and there could be different financial circumstances depending on the household. I think there are two brackets of Pobal index in Youghal. Even though the exact same base of data was being used, one of the four schools got DEIS status on appeal and it was the smallest of the four. I felt the Department was trying to do the cheapest option, ignoring the other three. That included the one secondary school which was an amalgamation of three. I think it is wrong.

Youghal is one of the most affected areas in the country with the migrants who arrived in 2022. Those schools took on that burden. I have not seen anything of note from the Department to give additional resources those schools. The need has now increased dramatically. With towns that have large centres, Youghal being one of them, many Ukrainians have gone home. Others have been moved to those centres. Youghal has one of those facilities with almost 1,000 people. Where there is a major IPAS centre with over 500 or 600 people, no differentiation is made for that.

That community needs a heap of support but what is also happening is that other migrants are coming from a multitude of different countries to the centres, which accommodated Ukrainians primarily. Arguably, you could make the case that Ukraine was a pretty developed country prior to the war and that the needs of Ukrainians were not the same as those of IPAS immigrants or asylum seekers seeking accommodation. Families in the latter categories come in with nothing. The communities are now taking on the additional need. The Department, as part of its work, needs to say that, in respect of the circumstances in question, DEIS should be part of an emergency response. That is what I want to see from the Department. What occurred in Youghal really annoyed me. I raised it with the Minister on a number of occasions but apparently nothing can be done about it. I am really annoyed that the secondary school, which is arguably taking the heaviest burden, and two primary schools were just left out.