Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the point the Deputy has made. As I have outlined already, there is a detailed paper on the refined DEIS model, which is available on gov.ie. At its core, it is about identifying concentrated levels of disadvantage. That is the nub of it. I accept that schools may be in close proximity to one another, but they do not necessarily have the same cohort of students. Notwithstanding that, I think it is important to acknowledge that the expansion of the DEIS programme to new schools is just one phase of the work that we seek to do. I absolutely accept that there are students who are attending schools that are not DEIS schools and would benefit from the DEIS supports. Therefore, we are looking at a whole range of supports being provided to schools. We have seen that in the additional supports that we are providing via budget 2023.

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