Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that I absolutely share his deep concern on this issue. The issue is our children and especially those who may not have had the same kind of start that the Deputy, I or others in this Chamber have had. There was a section on funding in the ESRI review of the school completion programme. I am aware that there has been widespread dissatisfaction with the current level of funding at local level and that the impact of cuts in this programme has resulted in reduced provision in the context of growing needs. I do not find that acceptable but, having said that, reductions in funding have been applied proportionately across clusters but this does not necessarily reflect the level of need and the concentration of greater disadvantage in some local areas. Currently they say there is a lack of clarity about how funding is and should be divided within clusters with many arrangements reflecting historic decisions rather than need. I will take this into consideration when I am looking at this issue.

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