Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State with special responsibility for children for attending to respond to this debate. While I have the utmost respect for him, I am very disappointed that the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, is not in the House to respond to this issue of major concern in Waterford city.

De La Salle Stephen's Street national school is an excellent school that has provided education in inner city Waterford over many years. It is located in a RAPID area. The removal of its disadvantaged status and its concessionary post would be an act of educational vandalism and an attack on the futures of the boys attending the school. Any Minister who would wilfully dramatically worsen the educational provision in such a school must consider his or her position. I sincerely hope the Minister will immediately resolve this situation and allow a highly effective principal and staff continue with their most important work unhindered by a Department which should be doing everything possible to support and encourage their work.

The Minister should visit the school and meet the parents and staff to see at first hand the damage done to the morale of the staff and parents alike. They are proud of their school and its achievements. There is an extended school community which contributes much to the sporting, cultural and social life of Waterford city. To harm seriously the kernel of such an important component of the community life of Waterford would be unforgivable.

Brother Martin, principal of De La Salle Stephen Street, has stated:

We have been told that we have lost our disadvantaged status. This will mean that the school will be crippled. Two teachers will be let go this summer and grants for vital materials and other resources will be withdrawn.

Brother Martin has further stated the school is unlikely to survive the next four to five years without disadvantaged status.

Is the Minister aware that in 46% of the households that provide pupils for this school, the main income earner is unemployed and that 45% of parents were early school leavers? Is the Minister aware that in recent years the De La Salle Order has donated €18,500 of its own funds to provide a part-time teacher in mathematics and English four days a week for those pupils who require such provision?

The school also received funding from the Waterford area partnership which helped provide music lessons for all pupils from first to sixth standard. That such a school could lose the major prop of disadvantaged status beggars belief. Is it the education policy of this Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government to punish those schools which successfully confront the ongoing education problems facing them?

There are specific questions which must be answered to clarify what exactly is happening with the disadvantaged status of De La Salle Stephen's Street national school. What is the present position regarding the designated disadvantaged status awarded to the school under the disadvantaged areas scheme in 1994? Will the Minister of State confirm that the additional permanent concessionary post allocated to the school and to which the first appointment was made in 1995 will continue to exist? Is the Minister's decision regarding disadvantaged status for the school based on a genuine mistake in the course of completing an application form relating to disadvantaged status? Will the Minister of State give a categorical assurance that at least St. Stephen's De La Salle national school will be no worse off in the coming year than in the current year in meeting the many problems the De La Salle order, the principal, staff and parents have been so successful in addressing to date.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta as ucht an cheist seo a phlé. The position of the Department of Education and Science in regard to the school support programme and St. Stephen's De La Salle national school, Waterford, will be outlined in this reply which I make on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin.

The school support programme under DEIS, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, is the new action plan for educational inclusion. It will bring together and build upon a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. The new action plan is being introduced on a phased basis, starting during the current school year. It will involve an additional annual investment of €40 million on full implementation. In addition, supports will continue to be provided for schools where the level of disadvantage is more dispersed.

The process of identifying primary and second level schools for participation in the new school support programme has been completed. This process was managed by the Educational Research Centre on behalf of the Department of Education and Science and supported by quality assurance work co-ordinated through the Department's regional offices and the inspectorate. In the primary sector, the identification process was based on a survey of all mainstream primary schools. An excellent response rate of more than 97% was achieved from this survey.

Deputy O'Shea outlined the particular difficulties facing St. Stephen's De La Salle in Waterford. That it was not assessed as qualifying for the programme suggests the standard of teaching and the achievement of students in the school are at a very good level. As a result of the identification process, 840 schools have been invited to participate in the new school support programme. These comprise 640 primary schools — 320 urban-town and 320 rural — and 200 second level schools. Letters of invitation were issued to all 840 schools in late February with a request to complete and return an acceptance form by 10 March 2006.

The school to which the Deputy refers is not among the primary schools selected for participation in this programme. However, this school is among the schools receiving additional resources under pre-existing schemes and programmes for addressing concentrated disadvantage and will retain these supports for 2006-07. The efficacy of these supports will be kept under review.

As well as the provision being made under the new school support programme for schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage, financial support will also continue to be provided for other primary schools where the level of disadvantage is more dispersed. This support will be based on the results of the new identification process, and the arrangements which will apply in this regard will be notified to schools early in the autumn.

A review mechanism has been put in place to address the concerns of schools that did not qualify for inclusion in the school support programme but regard themselves as having a level of disadvantage which is of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the programme. The mechanism will operate under the direction of an independent person, charged with ensuring that all relevant identification processes and procedures were properly followed in the case of schools applying for a review. The school to which the Deputy refers has requested a review, and a review form issued to the school on 7 March 2006. The closing date for receipt of review applications is Friday, 31 March 2006. The position at St. Stephen's De La Salle national school, Waterford, will be reviewed. I thank Deputy O'Shea for his interest in this question and I hope the reply has clarified the position.