Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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27. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the review of the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, programme; if he will put in place the measures suggested by the ESRI review of the programme, namely to taper funding and enhance supports for urban DEIS schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2011/17]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The question relates to the DEIS programme. The issue with the programme is that it has not really been expanded at all since it was established by the Fianna Fáil Government in 2006, with no new schools admitted to it since 2009. The Minister has been telling us there is a review of the programme under way. We had expected an announcement before Christmas on the programme's expansion. The Minister's own action plan called for this to be achieved in the last quarter of last year, I believe, but it has not been achieved. There are many schools that qualify for the programme but which cannot participate because the opportunity simply does not exist or because they cannot be admitted.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this. As he rightly points out, the new action plan for educational inclusion will be published in the coming weeks. This follows a detailed review of all aspects of the so-called DEIS programme, including the range and impact of different elements of the school support programme, the potential for innovation within and between schools, and its scope for increased integration of services provided by other Departments and agencies, in order to improve effectiveness.

The development of a new assessment framework using centrally held CSO and departmental data for the identification of schools for inclusion in a new programme is also included in the review process.  Implementation of actions arising from the plan will begin in the 2017-18 school year.

The ESRI report referred to by the Deputy, entitled "Learning from the Evaluation of DEIS", was commissioned by my Department to inform the current DEIS review. It provides an overview of available information on the impact of DEIS supports for schools. The report considers a number of important aspects relating to current practice in DEIS schools, including the potential to taper supports to schools and the need to continue to target more resources at urban band 1 schools. This report, together with the wide-ranging consultation conducted, will inform the final measures adopted under the new plan for educational inclusion.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister's commitment to putting a new or expanded scheme in place in September but all the while he is perpetuating socio-economic gaps in educational outcomes by maintaining the cap. In recent years, there have been schools that simply could not participate in the programme. Students are losing out as a consequence. It is a deliberate policy. How long does it take to put a new assessment system in place to determine DEIS status? Does the Minister know how many disadvantaged schools do not have DEIS status? How many new schools, which are in newly developed areas in many cases, do not have such status? Since the cap was imposed on the programme in 2011, a number of new primary schools have been built. Thirty new primary schools were established between 2011 in 2013 and they are simply out of the loop. Many of them are suffering on. Educational outcomes and students are suffering.

This matter is urgent. The Minister needs to send out a signal as quickly as possible. It is very worrying that this is being delayed past the deadline set out in the action plan. I am worried it will be delayed again, beyond September of this year, the deadline the Minister has suggested.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The impact of the DEIS programme has been positive. We have seen positive improvements in both literacy and numeracy in the schools but they have not closed the gap. It is clear that the programme is effective but it needs to do better.

On the question the Deputy raises, there has been no new school in the programme since 2009. It is in that year that the embargo was imposed.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I said that.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Until we apply the new model, we will not know the exact number of schools that will come up for inclusion in the 2017-18 year. I have, however, secured resources in the recent budget to provide for an increased number of participating schools and also to fund some new initiatives that would respond to some of the issues the Deputy rightly adverts to in the ESRI recommendations on the issue.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Can the Minister outline to the House the number of schools the funding is expected to cover? Can he guarantee that schools that have the resources at present will not lose them as part of the review?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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We have not got the numbers at this stage. That will depend on the application of the detailed model, which is based on CSO and departmental data. We are however, making provision for a significant number of schools, but that number will be finalised only when we complete the research.