Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My question is quite simple. When are the schools going to know whether they are in or out of the expanded DEIS programme? That is what principals are asking me. Principals in secondary schools are saying they need to do workforce planning and look at what we are offering schools. They cannot be told in July or August whether they are in a DEIS category or not. I have been raising the issues of Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Scoil Rann Na Feirste, Scoil Naisiúnta Gort An Choirce and Scoil Naisiúnta Mhín Teineadh Dé since 2017 because they should never have been left out of the DEIS programme. They are in areas where the deprivation scores are level 10. The schools are rural and isolated in nature. We need to undo the wrong that was done at that time.

Leaving that to one side, my question is quite simple. Perhaps the Minister does not know the answer and if she does not, I ask that she lets me know that is the case. Does the Department know what timeframe and target it is working towards? When will it be able to notify a school that it is now a DEIS school as a result of the 20% expansion?

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