Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The position is that we are now opening this process to new applications but only when we have a new process that can assess every school on an equitable basis. The Department is developing such a model. I hope it will be in force from the next school year. It will be a statistical model in the sense that it will use objective data from the census. As Deputy Connolly is aware, information is collected about people's income and various aspects of their occupations and positions. This provides a useful snapshot of the school and the pupils. This, coupled with data on reading and numeracy skills, will be used in a clear way in order that people in every school will know they are being treated fairly. That is important because there has been considerable friction over why some schools were excluded and not others. We need objective criteria, and that is what this will deliver. A school like the one Deputy Connolly has described will be a priority for that approach.

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