Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate that the Deputy is making a particular case for schools in his constituency, but also raising general issues. Not every school in the country should be classified as disadvantaged. These particular resources were given on a concessionary basis. All the evidence shows that we need to focus our resources to combat disadvantage. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General on primary disadvantage in 2006 also recommended this. If a concession was made for those schools in Donegal, then other schools would feel aggrieved because they would be losing resources.

I accept that these provisions were working well, but due to the difficult financial situation, and because of the concessionary nature of these supports, it was necessary to bring forward their withdrawal. Ultimately, we need to focus our resources on combatting disadvantage.

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