Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist seo a phlé. The position of the Department of Education and Science in regard to the school support programme and St. Stephen's De La Salle national school, Waterford, will be outlined in this reply which I make on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin.

The school support programme under DEIS, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, is the new action plan for educational inclusion. It will bring together and build upon a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. The new action plan is being introduced on a phased basis, starting during the current school year. It will involve an additional annual investment of €40 million on full implementation. In addition, supports will continue to be provided for schools where the level of disadvantage is more dispersed.

The process of identifying primary and second level schools for participation in the new school support programme has been completed. This process was managed by the Educational Research Centre on behalf of the Department of Education and Science and supported by quality assurance work co-ordinated through the Department's regional offices and the inspectorate. In the primary sector, the identification process was based on a survey of all mainstream primary schools. An excellent response rate of more than 97% was achieved from this survey.

Deputy O'Shea outlined the particular difficulties facing St. Stephen's De La Salle in Waterford. That it was not assessed as qualifying for the programme suggests the standard of teaching and the achievement of students in the school are at a very good level. As a result of the identification process, 840 schools have been invited to participate in the new school support programme. These comprise 640 primary schools — 320 urban-town and 320 rural — and 200 second level schools. Letters of invitation were issued to all 840 schools in late February with a request to complete and return an acceptance form by 10 March 2006.

The school to which the Deputy refers is not among the primary schools selected for participation in this programme. However, this school is among the schools receiving additional resources under pre-existing schemes and programmes for addressing concentrated disadvantage and will retain these supports for 2006-07. The efficacy of these supports will be kept under review.

As well as the provision being made under the new school support programme for schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage, financial support will also continue to be provided for other primary schools where the level of disadvantage is more dispersed. This support will be based on the results of the new identification process, and the arrangements which will apply in this regard will be notified to schools early in the autumn.

A review mechanism has been put in place to address the concerns of schools that did not qualify for inclusion in the school support programme but regard themselves as having a level of disadvantage which is of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the programme. The mechanism will operate under the direction of an independent person, charged with ensuring that all relevant identification processes and procedures were properly followed in the case of schools applying for a review. The school to which the Deputy refers has requested a review, and a review form issued to the school on 7 March 2006. The closing date for receipt of review applications is Friday, 31 March 2006. The position at St. Stephen's De La Salle national school, Waterford, will be reviewed. I thank Deputy O'Shea for his interest in this question and I hope the reply has clarified the position.

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