Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. I very much welcome her provision of additional funding for services to be provided universally to all students regardless of the particular school they attend. I previously discussed with the Minister two particular schools in Cavan that were excluded this time. I have detailed notes prepared and may talk to the Minister about those particular schools later today. It is hard for any of us to explain how the scheme works in centres where there are a number of primary schools. I think of one town where there are three primary schools - a boys' school, a girls' school and a Church of Ireland school. Children from the same family may go to two different schools, one of which is in the DEIS programme while the other is not. It is very hard to explain to a parent why her daughter is availing of the additional supports that come with DEIS status in her school while her son is not able to avail of the same additional educational provision in his. This also applies in towns where there is a school under the patronage of a minority church. I know of instances of children being transferred and of new entrants not going to the school they traditionally would have attended because of the extra attraction of another school being in the DEIS programme. We need to take account of situations in which there are a number of schools in one centre, not all of which are in the DEIS programme.

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