Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On what is probably our last exchange, I wish Deputy Ó Ríordáin well. His election to the European Parliament is a major milestone for him and his party. I genuinely wish him well as he continues to represent Dublin and Ireland, albeit in a different capacity. I say to all those elected to the European Parliament that everybody in the House is rooting for them. When they go over to a major Parliament of course from time to time people wear their party jerseys but the Irish jersey is required in terms of working together on key issues. I have always enjoyed exchanges with Deputy Ó Ríordáin on a variety of issues. I have tried to work collaboratively with him on an issue I know he is passionate about, which is adult literacy.

Deputy Ó Ríordáin very much outlined the role of the Government and the role of the Opposition. It is not an unfair way of outlining it. There is another way. The odd time in this House, the Government and the Opposition can work together on issues and try to make progress. Educational disadvantage is one such area. The DEIS programme has been transformative, as Deputy Ó Ríordáin has rightly said. I was looking into this earlier. The programme now supports 240,000 students in Ireland, which is one in four students. Approximately 30% of schools are now supported by the programme. It has a budget of €180 million. It is making a real impact. As Deputy Ó Ríordáin knows, we have expanded DEIS to other schools as a recognition of its success. We want to see other iterations in taking steps forward on DEIS. Let me say as Head of the Government that this is the direction of travel we want to take.

Before getting directly into DEIS plus, I want to mention that we recently took a significant step which I think Deputy Ó Ríordáin will support. Under the leadership of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, we have effectively introduced DEIS for preschool. I know I am speaking to the converted on this but if we believe in tackling educational disadvantage, the earlier we tackle it the better. The Equal Start programme, which effectively is DEIS for preschool, will see 700 services throughout the country benefit from extra staff and extra funding from this September. In real terms this will mean approximately 32,000 children, some of them disadvantaged children, getting the benefit of DEIS and an equal start at preschool. This is the most immediate thing. We do not need to wait for the budget and it will kick off in September.

I am conscious that Deputy Ó Ríordáin has heard warm words about DEIS plus previously, but I think there is real merit in it. As we continue to invest in education, the issues of universality and targeting arise. We are doing well on universality - we need to continue to do more - but we need to start targeting specific interventions. DEIS plus very much recognises this. The Minister is very aware of Deputy Ó Ríordáin's proposal. She has met many principals on it. The answer is that the OECD review is being completed at present. It is also being complemented by a programme of work by the Department of Education to develop further policy and to work on what is the next iteration for DEIS. The good news is that there is a timeframe for this. We expect to have the report from the OECD team this summer. We should be in a position to make policy decisions on what is next for educational disadvantage and DEIS in time for the budget in October.

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