Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the reply but I am disappointed by it. I raised the matter with the Minister at a recent meeting and he clarified that it would be the end of the year. This represented some progress further to a question I tabled on 16 May. In the reply to that question, no deadline was given but the Minister has now given a deadline of the end of the year.

The DEIS programme has taken on no new schools since 2009. I am going to use my time to refer to the Merlin Woods primary school in the east of Galway city. I will set out the statistics for the school. A total of 85% of pupils come from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Approximately 25% of parents are lone parents and live in local authority housing. Up to 75% of the parent body is unemployed. The statistics go on.

A whole-school evaluation was conducted in June 2014 and gave superb feedback. However, the school is at breaking point. Those involved are trying to provide a school service without the benefit of the DEIS programme, although other schools in the area benefit from the programme. This is a clear breach of equality legislation. Will the Minister explain what is going to happen to that school pending his review?

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