Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this important matter on the Adjournment debate. Crossmolina national school, roll number 20125I, will not be included in the school support programme under DEIS. The Minister opened the school on 20 September 2002, and from then until now an enormous amount of great work has been done assisted by the disadvantaged programme. This has enabled the school to reach out and help children at risk.

The success of this ongoing programme, which is provided with resources associated with the concentrated disadvantaged status, is now deemed a reason to exclude the school from the school support programme. However, since that date, the Crossmolina national school catchment area has been directly affected by job losses in Bellacorick power station, Bord na Móna, ESB, Hinnegans and Oasis Europe in Ballina and Volex in Castlebar. Bank of Ireland recently closed its branch in Crossmolina, and four shops have been closed in the town as a direct result of job losses. The area has not created any new jobs since the school was opened.

The school is at a loss to understand, in light of these negative events, how it is losing its concentrated disadvantaged status. Education is the key to breaking the poverty cycle, and the school has appealed this devastating decision to the Department of Education and Science.

How exactly did this come about, and how was the decision made? The principal and teachers have done trojan work to provide a myriad of different activities in the school, and this has done wonders for those who would not otherwise have thrived in the educational system. Against a background of gross neglect and unbalanced treatment in development, it is soul-destroying that Mayo schools such as Crossmolina are to lose their disadvantaged status. Other schools would be an Chorráin, Tóin Na Gaoithe and Leath Ardán group of schools.

In the case of Crossmolina, that will mean the loss of the equivalent of two teachers and many other essential school activities, due to the break in the cycle of funding. I received a statement from the Minister on the matter, and I find it confusing and unsatisfactory. It raises more questions than answers with regard to how these schools were removed from the disadvantaged category. The Minister has stated that no school has been told they will lose resources. It would appear that schools will hold on to the resources until the end of 2007 and lose them after that. That is a problem.

There is nothing factual from the Department with regard to the current situation. Schools are in limbo. For schools not in the programme, the basis will be decided by pupil. What does this mean for the school and places such as Crossmolina which has done so badly? What has the Minister in place and how fair is the assessment process?

I note from the Minister that the process is calculated through different factors, such as incidence of lone parents. There are possibly fewer lone parents in Crossmolina. Other factors include ethnic groups such as Travellers. Perhaps there are fewer Travellers in Crossmolina than in Ballinrobe, for example, or inner city Dublin. Perhaps there is less local authority accommodation in Crossmolina than there should be, and there should be much more. People are in private rented accommodation, so I would like the Minister to explain how the process has been calculated.

Employment is another factor, but much employment in the Crossmolina area in particular is of a temporary nature. An example of this is the upgrade of the ESB lines, in which many people in the Crossmolina and Leath Ardán area would be employed in. How and when will this be reviewed? If it occurs years down the line, all these people will have lost their jobs and people will be in a bad situation compared with Dublin which has public sector jobs. There is a great need for a clear commitment that schools will not lose resources. The Minister is implying this but not stating it outright. If schools are not going to lose resources, why has this not be expressed clearly.

The role of the school liaison co-ordinator is crucial. There should be some guarantee that the position will not be lost. I have written to the Minister to ask her to meet the parents and teachers to tell them what is happening and the process has been worked out. I hope the Minister of State will give some clear answers.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I will reply on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin. I hope the reply will clarify the matters raised by Deputy Cowley.

As the Deputy is aware, the school has not been told it will lose any of the resources it has been in receipt of under the breaking the cycle scheme. The school has simply not been selected for inclusion in a new school support programme, which is aimed at providing even more resources for the most disadvantaged schools in the country. The Minister for Education and Science has, however, made it very clear that Crossmolina national school will keep the extra resources it receives under existing schemes for the 2006-07 school year and that after that it will continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among its pupils.

The new DEIS programme will be of huge benefit to schools in Mayo. This particular school has not been selected for the programme but I am sure the Deputy will agree that it is important to make sure that schools serving the most disadvantaged communities get all the extra support possible, and that he will welcome the extra resources that DEIS will provide for Mayo schools.

An extremely fair process was put in place to identify schools for inclusion in the new programme, with schools being selected by the Education Research Centre for inclusion on the basis of questionnaires filled in by their principals. There was no ministerial interference with that process.

DEIS is designed to ensure that schools serving the most disadvantaged communities in the country benefit from the maximum level of support available. Over the years, no less than eight separate schemes for disadvantaged primary schools have been put in place. Some schools benefited from just one or two of these and others benefited from more. The DEIS initiative is designed to ensure that the most disadvantaged schools benefit from a comprehensive package of supports, while ensuring that others continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among their pupils.

No school has been told that it will lose resources. On the contrary, four urban or town primary schools, 59 rural primary schools and six second level schools in County Mayo alone have been invited to benefit from all the resources available from the new programme. Indeed, nearly 20% of all the rural schools invited to benefit from the new programme nationally are in Mayo.

I assure the Deputy that there is no reason for schools that have not been identified for the new programme to worry, as they will continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among their pupils. Neither Crossmolina nor any other school in Mayo has been told that it will lose resources as a result of DEIS.

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. This 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 submitted a review request. It is intended that the review process be completed by the end of the current school year.

The Minister thanks Deputy Cowley for raising this matter and for giving her the opportunity to outline the Government's support for schools serving disadvantaged communities in Mayo.