Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of the DEIS review that is being undertaken, but I want Carlow and Tullow to be included in it. The problem is that families are moving from schools which do not have the programme, which includes hot meals, to schools that have it. That is a major issue. Scoil Mhuire Lourdes is in Tullow, but there are no DEIS schools there, while Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, the school I attended in my home town, has been looking for DEIS status for years. It is becoming a major issue because school completion programmes and hot meals are only allocated to DEIS schools. Schools on the cusp of being identified as DEIS must fight locally to access anything like that support. DEIS is delivering results. Data indicates that schools that are introduced into the DEIS programme continue to improve over time. The issue is the timescale for DEIS schools. I have contacted the Minister, and she has always come back to me, about these two particular schools that are struggling and urgently in need of DEIS status.

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