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

In response to Deputy Wallace's points, the change to which I referred gives the staffing appeals board discretion so that it is not just rigidly adhering to some view. The change will allow the board to assess the situation. From what Deputy Wallace has said, it sounds as if the school will have a good chance of meeting the criteria by September 2017. Those criteria are ones that are budgeted for this year and are not for the coming school year. They will have to be budgeted this year for a third of the year and next year for the full school year. I cannot bring forward the date because there is funding attached to these relaxed arrangements.

As in every other area, as resources become available we are able to make adjustments in various parts of the education system to make things easier. I will be making adjustments to the DEIS scheme. We will be opening DEIS to new schools. No new schools have applied for DEIS status since 2009. We are making progress with the resources available to improve the position of schools, particularly disadvantaged schools.

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