Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to finish on the appeals process. I acknowledge that many schools were very pleased yesterday. The Deputy was gracious enough to include a reference to the schools in his constituency. I also appreciate there were schools that did not make the DEIS status yesterday.

I want to be very clear that the model employed, that is, the Pobal HP deprivation index, is very clear and transparent in respect of categorising what we are talking about or referring to in terms of compounded disadvantage, which highlights those schools where the greatest level of disadvantage is being experienced. Those were the schools that were successful yesterday. Notwithstanding that, there will almost certainly be an appeals process. The Department is committed to ensuring that all schools are treated equally and fairly in the manner in which they have been assessed for inclusion in the programme. If a school considers that it should have been identified for inclusion in the programme under the refined model, an appeals process has been developed to allow it to seek a review. That will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

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