Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will take the Ceann Comhairle's word on that, but he is not here tonight to discuss what is a major issue for schools all around the country. Deputy Cahill spoke about the five schools in Tipperary town. There are schools all over the country affected by this, which is why the Ceann Comhairle has recognised this as a huge issue. Those schools do not know why they have been excluded. They do not know the basis on which calculations were made. A review process took place but it has not been implemented at all, as far as I can see. We have no real information about it.

The DEIS programme was announced and launched at the start of this year on the 2011 census figures, just before the 2016 figures became available. The Minister wanted a good news story to start the year. It was rushed out really quickly and it was not ready. Hundreds of schools were left out of the programme, but the Minister wanted to be seen to be tackling disadvantage. He has picked certain disadvantaged schools to benefit from it. We do not begrudge those schools; we want them to benefit from the programme. However, he has excluded hundreds of others. Furthermore, he still has not produced the 2016 calculations. The 2016 figures are available; the Haase and Pratschke, HP, index was published a few weeks ago. It could be done very quickly if the Government wanted to do it. We are told that it is an easy thing to do.

The Government is not giving children the chance they deserve to prosper and to get the best education possible. Teachers are not being given the best possible chance to teach those students. The Government is further entrenching disadvantage in communities around the country. Educational opportunity is not being given to everybody. We need answers to these questions. This is a major source of controversy. It made front page news. This is massive. Questions are dodged on it all the time. I have been asking questions - I have them all here - and Deputy Cahill has been asking questions too. We have never had answers, and if there are 257 schools which are disadvantaged but not on the list, they should be added to the list immediately. Some of these schools will have cases before the Ombudsman, querying why they are not qualified for DEIS status while others are. I would encourage them towards that path.

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