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

The Minister of State gives the excuse for the 257 exclusions that the decisions were made in the context of a lower concentration of disadvantage. First, nobody knows what level of concentration is now required to be in the DEIS scheme. That information has not been given to anyone. We do not know what the level is. Second, the documents show that when the officials were briefing the Minister about this, they never talked about a lower concentration of disadvantage. They simply spoke about further expansion to include 257 schools in band 2 of DEIS. A school either qualifies for band 2 or it does not. It is clear that the officials who were advising the Minister in this case knew that these 257 schools qualified for band 2. There was no question of lower or higher rates of concentrations. There are schools all over the country in this group that qualify for band 2, as the Minister was advised, but that do not receive the supports. There is no evidence that there was any analysis of concentration carried out.

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