Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The school referred to by him is a new school which was established in September 2011 on foot of an amalgamation agreed to by the patrons of two existing post-primary schools, one DEIS school and one non-DElS school. I was not familiar with the issue before today, but it is something I will discuss with our colleague, the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who cannot be here.

In line with current policy on all such amalgamations, the new school in question was not designated a DEIS school. Also in line with policy dating back many years, the new school receives certain additional DEIS programme supports in respect of the number of eligible pupils from the former DEIS school. These supports will continue until that pupil cohort has left the school. The Deputy referred to a term of six years, but they will continue until the relevant pupils have left the school. The Minister has addressed the issues raised in respect of the school in numerous parliamentary questions, while officials of my Department have also engaged in direct correspondence to clarify my Department's position on the matter. I clarify again that on no occasion was any assurance given by my Department to the school that it would be included in the DEIS programme following the amalgamation.

As the Deputy is aware, last year the Minister announced a process for a review of the DEIS programme. This process is under way, with the majority of the work programme being undertaken during the course of the current 2015-16 school year. It is envisaged that a revised framework of supports will be in place for the 2017-18 school year. The overall scope of the review is to assess the existing DEIS programme in the context of evaluations to date and relevant policy and other developments in order to inform future policy on educational disadvantage.

The Minister invited all education partners to make submissions on their experience of the DEIS programme and suggestions for future interventions. The submissions are available on my Department's website and will feed into the overall DEIS programme review. I presume a submission was made on this case also. A technical working group within my Department is considering appropriate eligibility criteria to assist with the identification of the level of need in schools. This work is under way with a view to completion during the current school year. Any revised identification process for schools will be clearly set out and communicated to all schools concerned.

An advisory group has also been established. This group is reviewing the current supports available under the DEIS programme and will make recommendations for a new framework of appropriate supports, as well as a monitoring and evaluation framework. Socio-economic differences and the link with poorer educational outcomes cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader social context. The Minister has, therefore, established an interdepartmental working group to ensure a more joined-up and consistent approach to service delivery in the future. Representatives of relevant Departments and agencies are reviewing their current inputs to the DEIS programme and will contribute to the overall framework of supports to combat educational disadvantage.

Pending the outcome of the review process, the Minister does not intend to make any change to current DEIS policy. The policy predates the Government and has been in place for many years. That is the reason for the review of the overall policy. We will be able to see where we can make relevant and needed changes. We consider it best to deal with the matter raised by the Deputy as part of the review of the overall scheme.

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