Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle and his office for allowing me to raise this issue. This is a simple case of bureaucracy gone mad and in so doing, it has affected the chances of the approximately 450 students of Coláiste Pobail Acla. This school is the product of an amalgamation in 2011 of McHale College, Achill, which had 450 students, and Scoil Damhnait, which had far fewer students. It is a fantastic school and is the only secondary school on Achill Island. However, prior to the merger, McHale College, the bigger school with more than 450 students, had been designated as a Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, school and therefore had the important advantages and supports that go with such a designation in respect of this successful scheme. After the merger, the DEIS status was removed and while the transitional supports for a DEIS school that is moving were put in place for the leaving certificate cohort of students, that transition has now come to an end. Nothing changed about the profile of the students or the economic position in the area, which had worsened considerably. All that changed was the name over the door and the roll number on the Department's roll, which appears to be where the difficulty lies. As no new DEIS status has been issued since 2006, the putting in place of a new roll number meant that DEIS status could not be extended to the new school, which I reiterate was the amalgamation of two existing schools. Mayo VEC, which had been the patron of McHale College, gave guarantees that DEIS status would be retained on the basis of assurances from the Department of Education and Skills. However, it was confirmed in July 2014, through the Higher Education Access Route, HEAR, programme, that the new entity was not in fact a DEIS school and was not entitled to the DEIS supports. When I questioned the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, late last year in this regard, she confirmed this and stated the transitional supports would be in place for six years.

This is a crazy situation for a school with 450 students that had DEIS status but which merged, in the interests of educational opportunity, with a school that on its closing day had 30 pupils. The 450 students lost their DEIS status through no fault of their own and through no fault of the boards of management or the fantastic staff. It makes no sense and is a case of bureaucracy gone mad and of no one willing to take ownership of the issue. All the feeder national schools are designated as DEIS status, the entire island and the community around it are designated as areas of high disadvantage, particularly in respect of rural disadvantage. I have consistently and constantly made the point that DEIS struggles to capture rural disadvantage in particular. This problem with DEIS, which is a fantastic programme, has extended through the lifetime of several Governments.

The Minister is reviewing the entire DEIS scheme at present and I note that another anomaly has arisen on the other side of the county, that is, in Inver national school, Erris. There are 22 national schools in Erris, all of which - with one exception - have been designated with DEIS status. The reason Inver national school is not so designated is the school did not apply in time. It has nothing to do with the profile of its pupils or with the disadvantage it faces. While I acknowledge the Minister of State will not be in position to provide it to me today, I would appreciate an update on that school.

I reiterate this is a case of bureaucracy gone mad. All that changed here was a roll number. Nothing else changed but the students are now paying for that mistake.

The staff are also paying for the mistake, although they continue to provide a fantastic education in spite of it. Will the Minister of State knock some heads together in the Department and bring some sense to the equation?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The school referred to by him is a new school which was established in September 2011 on foot of an amalgamation agreed to by the patrons of two existing post-primary schools, one DEIS school and one non-DElS school. I was not familiar with the issue before today, but it is something I will discuss with our colleague, the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who cannot be here.

In line with current policy on all such amalgamations, the new school in question was not designated a DEIS school. Also in line with policy dating back many years, the new school receives certain additional DEIS programme supports in respect of the number of eligible pupils from the former DEIS school. These supports will continue until that pupil cohort has left the school. The Deputy referred to a term of six years, but they will continue until the relevant pupils have left the school. The Minister has addressed the issues raised in respect of the school in numerous parliamentary questions, while officials of my Department have also engaged in direct correspondence to clarify my Department's position on the matter. I clarify again that on no occasion was any assurance given by my Department to the school that it would be included in the DEIS programme following the amalgamation.

As the Deputy is aware, last year the Minister announced a process for a review of the DEIS programme. This process is under way, with the majority of the work programme being undertaken during the course of the current 2015-16 school year. It is envisaged that a revised framework of supports will be in place for the 2017-18 school year. The overall scope of the review is to assess the existing DEIS programme in the context of evaluations to date and relevant policy and other developments in order to inform future policy on educational disadvantage.

The Minister invited all education partners to make submissions on their experience of the DEIS programme and suggestions for future interventions. The submissions are available on my Department's website and will feed into the overall DEIS programme review. I presume a submission was made on this case also. A technical working group within my Department is considering appropriate eligibility criteria to assist with the identification of the level of need in schools. This work is under way with a view to completion during the current school year. Any revised identification process for schools will be clearly set out and communicated to all schools concerned.

An advisory group has also been established. This group is reviewing the current supports available under the DEIS programme and will make recommendations for a new framework of appropriate supports, as well as a monitoring and evaluation framework. Socio-economic differences and the link with poorer educational outcomes cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader social context. The Minister has, therefore, established an interdepartmental working group to ensure a more joined-up and consistent approach to service delivery in the future. Representatives of relevant Departments and agencies are reviewing their current inputs to the DEIS programme and will contribute to the overall framework of supports to combat educational disadvantage.

Pending the outcome of the review process, the Minister does not intend to make any change to current DEIS policy. The policy predates the Government and has been in place for many years. That is the reason for the review of the overall policy. We will be able to see where we can make relevant and needed changes. We consider it best to deal with the matter raised by the Deputy as part of the review of the overall scheme.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I am disappointed with the reply. As I have consistently said, this has nothing to do with school identification or the identification of need. It is not so much an amalgamation but a takeover. A DEIS school with 450 students amalgamated with a non-DEIS school with 29 students and the status was lost. Nothing changed in terms of the student cohort. If the amalgamation had not proceeded, the 450 students would continue to have DEIS supports. All that happened was a Department policy was pursued, which was to strengthen schools and go down the route of amalgamation. Assurances were definitely given. The minutes of board of management meetings are available. The Minister of State knows schools well enough to know that a board of management would not have signed up to something such as this unless assurances were given during the process.

It is welcome that the DEIS programme is being reviewed. It is an important and successful programme, but in this specific instance there is a bureaucratic issue. The profile of the students has not changed. To use the Minister of State's own phrase, the "appropriate eligibility criteria" have not changed. In terms of identifying the schools and socio-economic differences, they did not change either. In line with what is happening in all rural areas, they have, in fact, got worse. It is beyond me why someone cannot knock heads together in the Department and point to the reality that nothing has changed except a roll number. As a result of the change in the roll number, DEIS status and all that goes with it has been lost. That is stupid and silly. I encourage the Minister of State to return to his officials and knock their heads together. On the basis of his timeline, it will be another two academic years before the supports kick in. There is no guarantee either of the result of what is a bureaucratic issue.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has stated again that assurances were given. I am led to believe by my officials that that is not the case. They are and have been very clear in the replies to parliamentary questions and on other occasions too that assurances were not given because it was not in their gift to give them. They are very clear on that point and they are usually right on these things. They are also very good at keeping notes, as the Deputy knows because he has also been dealing with them for a long time. They are very clear that there was no discussion at the time on the DEIS status of the new school. Strange as it might seem, they are very clear on that point. As I said, I have always found them to be correct in their reports on meetings to me as Minister of State and everything else we do also.

It is not correct to say there are no supports available to the 450 pupils. I do not have the details of all the supports that are in place, but under the rules of the scheme, certain supports have been left in place for the number of eligible pupils. The Deputy said 450 students came from the DEIS school and that this would be recognised in the supports provided. I do not have the detail with me, but I will get it for the Deputy. However, I imagine substantial support is given to allow and cater for that position.

The Department has to operate the scheme as laid out when it was first put in place many years ago. Everyone agrees that it is worth reviewing the scheme. That is why the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is the first Minister to say we should have a review and implement any change that may be recommended. The review is under way and it is hoped the new, revised scheme will be in place by 2017-18. An important element of the review is the development of a robust and transparent identification process for the inclusion of schools in any programme to support children at risk of educational disadvantage. That is our aim. All schools which meet the criteria for inclusion in any given programme will be included. I assume and hope a submission has been made on behalf of the school in question by the Deputy and others as part of the review process. Certainly, there will be ample time to discuss it as matters move along.

As previously stated in replies to parliamentary questions and other discussions, the review process is under way. There will be no changes to the current scheme, including the addition of new schools, until the review has been completed. It is important to note that, in the meantime, schools established following the amalgamation of a DEIS school and a non-DEIS school, including the school in question, will continue to receive certain additional supports under the DEIS programme in respect of the pupil cohort from the former DEIS school. In this case, 450 students attended the DEIS school. The supports include financial assistance in the form of a DEIS grant and access to home-school-community liaison and school completion services. It is wrong to say there is no recognition of the issues involved or that there are no supports available. The scheme has done its best to recognise that extra supports should follow pupils in the school. It is probably not the full complement of supports a DEIS school would receive, but it was not within the gift of departmental officials to recognise it as a DEIS school under the scheme started many years ago.

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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We will have to wait for a few moments. If Deputy Áine Collins does not arrive in the meantime and as the relevant Minister is here, Deputy Gerry Adams's Topical Issue can be dealt with first. Is the Minister of State dealing with that issue also?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, was stuck in traffic, but he has now landed. He will be here. He wants to take the Topical Issue himself.

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I am reluctant to start the discussion on that Topical Issue until Deputy Ruth Coppinger arrives, given that time is being shared.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Okay.

Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I do not know what the position is on the Topical Issue tabled by Deputy Áine Collins. Is the Minister of State dealing with that issue?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Yes, I am. I know that the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, wants to take the issue to be raised by Deputy Gerry Adams. There was a bad crash on the road and we were all caught, but the Minister of State should be here in the next two minutes.