Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, the single biggest expansion of the DEIS programme was announced by me recently, with an investment of €17 million, increasing to €32 million next year. We are very conscious of the benefit of the DEIS programme. All analysis and studies on the programme show that it makes a considerable impact in our schools. We have grown it to such an extent that one in four of our students benefits from the DEIS programme.

In terms of the review process, more than 300 schools were announced as benefiting from the DEIS programme. Schools that were not successful on this occasion were given the opportunity to appeal the findings of the programme. The schools have been notified of their status on foot of that. The entire funding allocation for the programme for 2023 will be in the region of €180 million. Consequently, because of the recent enhancement, schools with the highest levels of concentrated educational disadvantage have now been identified for inclusion in the programme through the new refined DEIS identification model which is an objective, statistics-based model. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model has been applied fairly and equally to all schools. The model uses information from the school’s individual enrolment database and 2016 national census data as represented by the Pobal HP deprivation index. It also takes into consideration the significant educational disadvantage experienced by Traveller and Roma learners and by students residing in direct provision or emergency homeless accommodation. A detailed paper on the refined DEIS identification model is available on gov.ie.

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