Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister’s priority for DEIS was to engineer biggest expansion of DEIS since it was originally established in the early 2000s and the Minister has achieved that over the last two years, in terms of the number of schools covered by DEIS and all the teaching supports which is quite significant in terms of the reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio in DEIS schools and the other supports that follow with DEIS designation.

I agree with the importance of libraries. Some of the technology grants and supports can be used for online facilities, resources and supports. The priority this year was to bring in free books for primary school children. That has been successfully delivered from its announcement last year to enactment this September. It is something that many parents are very pleased with. We are committed to doing what we can to strengthen the resources around libraries in schools.

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