Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad that this matter has been selected and to be in the House at 9.15 p.m. debating this issue. I must record that it is disappointing that the Minister is not here tonight to listen to these concerns and that we are dealing with the Minister for State instead. It is not disappointing for me personally but for the children of the schools I will refer to.

There is no transparency here. When schools in my constituency were not put on the list, schools which in my view and that of teachers and parents should obviously be on the list, I was surprised. Indeed, anybody who knows the area would know about the levels of deprivation and would be able to see that the schools should be afforded DEIS status. When those schools were refused DEIS status I lodged freedom of information requests asking for the scoring for Scoil Naisíunta Ghort an Choirce or Scoil Naisíunta Rann Na Feirste. Each request was refused. This speaks to a lack of transparency. We then hear in the national media that internal documents from the Department say that 257 schools should have been on the list and met the criteria but were excluded for resource reasons.

I want to know, on behalf of teachers and pupils in west Donegal, which schools they were. Were they Scoil Naisíunta Gort An Choirce, which has been campaigning on this issue for many years and which has raised that school's plight with the current Minister and indeed his predecessor? Was it my former secondary school, Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, which also does not have DEIS status despite the fact that every single primary school in the parish has DEIS status? A child in Gaoth Dobhair is disadvantaged in bunscoil but miraculously is not when he or she goes to secondary school. The same situation applies for Gort an Choirce. The primary school in the parish has not been awarded DEIS status, but when one goes to the secondary school in the parish one automatically has DEIS status, despite the fact that the new figures, released a couple of weeks ago from the census, show that the level of deprivation in that area has actually increased dramatically. Rann Na Feirste is clearly an deprived area, and Meentinadea is in exactly the same situation. There is no rationale whatsoever. These students are not being afforded DEIS status due to what appears to be a penny-pinching exercise. We all know that DEIS status comes with resources and supports that assist pupils in these schools to reach their full potential.

I would also make the point that the schools we are talking about are schools that are not only in disadvantaged areas but are also in the Gaeltacht agus atá ag iarraidh an Ghaeilge a choinneáil beo. Níl an Stát ag tabhairt an tacaíocht chuí do na múinteoirí, don bhord bainistíochta nó do na páistí, go háirithe, mar nach bhfuil siad ag tabhairt an stádas DEIS dóibh.

Tá sé soiléir do dhuine ar bith atá ag iarraidh na fíricí, go bhfuil ceantar Gort an Choirce faoi mhíbhuntáiste agus tá sé níos measa ná mar a bhí sé cúig bliana ó shin. Tá Gaoth Dobhair mar an gcéanna, agus ba cheart go mbeadh Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair san áireamh le DEIS. Maidir le Rann na Feirste agus Mín Tine Dé, tá cás láidir ansin go mbeadh status DEIS tugtha díobh. Tá súil agam go ndéanfaidh an tAire athbhreithniú ar an gceist seo go sciobtha.

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