Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The ESRI report showed real progress in several areas. Between 2007 and 2013, significant improvement in reading and maths scores of primary school students across DEIS programme schools was recorded. At the same time, the report pointed out there was a general improvement across all schools in these scores. Accordingly, DEIS programme schools kept pace with improvements and the gap did not narrow. In rural areas, results were very good which emphasises the importance of continuing to invest in rural DEIS.

The report, however, points out that for urban band 1 schools, in particular, there needs to be additional investment because outcomes are not keeping pace with or narrowing the gap between schools with better resources and whose students may come from better-off backgrounds. Will the Minister comment on the ESRI's recommendations on the operation of urban band 1 schools and her intentions for addressing some of the recommendations to double up and improve the resources available to those schools?

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