Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

On foot of the Minister's comments, may I take it that schools which have home-school-community liaison co-ordinators will not lose them, at least for the coming year, even if they are not in DEIS?

I have examined the indicators which were used for the primary schools. Does the Minister consider that some might discriminate against some small rural schools? In such schools, one is more likely to encounter under-employment, with small farmers, than unemployment and one will have smaller numbers of people in local authority housing. Moreover, given the location of rural schools in particular, children who want to engage in activities such as swimming must often travel for 20 km to 40 km, etc. This takes resource and so on and they will be disadvantaged as a result.

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