Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The DEIS programme is extremely important. It speaks to educational disadvantage. We have the single greatest number of schools now involved in the DEIS programme. There was a very clear and transparent process for schools that did not meet the criteria. There was an appeals process and significant resources were put in place. I acknowledge that there will be children who are attending schools that are not DEIS schools, and they are also at risk of educational disadvantage, so we have universal targets on free books, as I mentioned earlier, and we are running pilots. One of the pilot projects to provide counselling services in primary school is being run in the Deputy's area.

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