Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hear the Deputy's frustration and I understand that. It is important to stress, however, that there is no application process for a school to receive DEIS status. The underlying principle for inclusion in the DEIS programme is evidence of the need to make provision of supports to schools catering for concentrated levels of disadvantaged pupils. The identification process for DEIS status is based on an objective statistics-based model to determine which schools merit inclusion in the programme. Variables used in the compilation of the HP deprivation index include those related to demographic growth, dependency ratios, education levels, single parent rates, overcrowding, social class and occupation and unemployment rates. These data are combined with pupil data supplied by schools that are anonymised and aggregated to a small area, which provide information on the relative level of concentrated disadvantage present in the pupil cohort of individual schools. There are a number of resources available in the DEIS section of the Department's website to assist schools to understand how the process works and to explain how schools can use the data sources to assess their disadvantage levels.

The rationale for allocating DEIS resources and supports, based on a school's level of concentrated disadvantage, is based on the existence of a multiplier effect, whereby students attending a school with a high concentration of students from a disadvantaged background have poorer academic outcomes, even taking account of individual social background. Research by the European Research Council, ERC, and the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, indicates that there is a strong evidence base, in the Irish context, that the social class mix of a school matters, providing a rationale for prioritising supports for those schools that cater for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. I assure the Deputy I will bring the concerns she has raised back to the Department.

See this speech in context