Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that DEIS has taken on no new schools to avoid spending extra money. I am unsure why it has taken so long. Some six years later, the evaluation still has not been carried out, yet when I look at reviews by the Department of Education and Skills inspectorate of national and international reports on literacy and numeracy, they refer to numerous reviews of DEIS, the evaluation of DEIS and so on. Appendix IV of one report refers to the achievements and characteristics of pupils attending rural DEIS schools in 2013. There are similar references for 2014.

Six years later why has the evaluation not been completed? When the Minister says it will be done in the next school year, could that be September of this year? Why is there a difficulty in carrying out the review? There has been six years of delay. There are many other schools like this one crying out for assistance. Could the new system be in place for September of this year?

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