Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response.

We cannot underestimate the role a school plays in improving social cohesion within a community. New communities, areas of economic deprivation and emerging towns need this strength in their local schools. I am glad to hear that we are expecting a report from ESRI in the near future and on foot of that report, I hope to see some action in this area.

Society does not remain static and Government policy instruments, such as the DEIS scheme, need to evolve with the dynamic nature of society. I cannot emphasise enough the need for the Government to act at this early phase in our recovery to strengthen disadvantaged schools and help individual pupils. Intelligence, ability and potential do not know income brackets, geography or privilege. Given the right supports, we can continue to assist more children to reach the limits of their potential through school by providing the relevant supports.

The Minister mentioned the initial assessments were made in 2005. At that stage, variables involved for primary schools were the percentage unemployment, the percentage of lone parenthood, the percentage of Travellers, the percentage of large families, that is, five or more children, the percentage of eligibility for free books and the percentage in local authority accommodation. The latter figure for the percentage in local authority accommodation might now also include the percentage on rent supplement because that has changed dramatically in the past ten years. A consideration today might be given to the percentage of non-English speaking pupils or parents in communities, particularly in the north and west Dublin areas, which is a big problem.

The Minister stated that her priority is to maintain existing supports as there is no added capacity at this time and to focus on the most concentrated areas, but I believe there are new schools which, if there were an evaluation based on those criteria, would meet the criteria and should be included in DEIS. Hopefully, the report to which she refers might lead to a wider look at this and determine whether there are gaps that need to be addressed - I believe there are. Now is the time to take a fresh look at it and I look forward to seeing progress on this matter in the near future.

See this speech in context