Dáil debates

Thursday, 16 February 2017

Topical Issue Debate

Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools

6:30 pm

Photo of Jackie CahillJackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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Earlier this week, the schools that acquired DEIS status were announced. Tipperary town, which has five primary schools, has suffered from much social deprivation over a number of years. There is serious unemployment there and much social housing and social issues. The criteria that must be met for a school to obtain DEIS status would seem to be tailor-made for Tipperary town. We had a public meeting in November which the five Deputies and other local representatives attended. The five schools came together and put the information forward on the problems in their town. They gave the numbers of underprivileged children attending, including foreign nationals and Travellers. All the criteria seemed to fit perfectly for acquiring DEIS status. We were very surprised and disappointed when the announcement was made earlier in the week that none of the five schools in the town got status. The town has suffered many blows and it would be a major advancement for the educational infrastructure if DEIS status were given to the schools.

Photo of Séamus HealySéamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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On Monday last, there was shock and disbelief in the five primary school communities in Tipperary town and throughout the town itself when it was revealed the five schools had failed to be designated under the DEIS programme. They are St. Joseph's girls national school, St. Michael's girls national school, St. Michael's junior boys school, Gaelscoil Thiobraid Árann and the Monastery boys school. These were left out of the 2005 designation.

Tipperary town is a designated RAPID town and has high levels of unemployment. The aggregate statistics for the schools are as follows: households headed by lone parents, 24.2%; households in which English is not the first language, 20%; low income households, 44.2%; students with special needs, 17.4%; students receiving learning support, 35%. These statistics appear to be tailor-made for meriting DEIS status for the schools. I ask the Minister to review the decision and designate the schools.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The schools have been mentioned. The schools were left out in 2005, which is many years ago. The schools are at a complete loss to understand why. By any measure, the schools are in areas of high deprivation and have a strong case for inclusion. The Minister will be aware that the south east region is the second most disadvantaged in Ireland, and Tipperary is the third most disadvantaged local authority area within the region. The schools I am referring to presented persuasive and compelling reasons for inclusion in the DEIS plan, which is to begin in September 2017. What they were up against, however, was a deeply flawed model in terms of criteria used to assess schools. The Department itself has acknowledged that the methodology used in the assessments is deeply inadequate and in need of improvement. It is disgraceful that these schools were excluded from receiving vital allocations because they failed to meet poorly formulated departmental criteria.

I am challenging the Minister. He snubbed Carrick-an-Suir quite recently on the opening day - a massive, great day for the town. It is another snub to Tipperary town and, indeed, Holy Trinity national school, Fethard. I ask the Minister to get things in order in his Department, have a proper assessment system and have the proper criteria adhered to.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. I do not for one moment accept Deputy Mattie McGrath's suggestion that I snubbed Tipperary or any part of it.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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What else did the Minister do?

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The truth is that this system was set up based on an objective assessment. It has taken into consideration issues such as the ones the Deputies raised, including social class, dependency ratios, educational levels of parents, lone parenthood, overcrowding, occupation, unemployment. On this first round, I have been able to include just 2% of schools in addition in the DEIS scheme. That is a small number, amounting to 79 schools, but they are the schools of the highest concentration identified by the method. It is a fair and objective method and the Department defends it fully and has implemented it.

The programme has introduced improvements. Tipperary, as Deputies know, has five of the 79 additional schools. Two are in urban band 1, one is in urban band 2 moving to urban band 1, and three are in the rural band. Out of the fewer than 80 schools, which is about two per constituency, Tipperary has five. Therefore, this is not an anti-Tipperary model by any means.

I fully recognise that we need to do more work. We are going to refine the methodology and examine the way in which schools use resources and how we can best deploy resources. I hope that in the future it will be possible to give consideration to extending DEIS supports to a further group of schools because I recognise that beyond these schools which are shown to have the highest concentration of disadvantage, there are others that have significant concentration.

6 o’clock

The scheme's purpose is to move to a situation where we use our available resources to best support children who come to school with particular disadvantages and ensure they fulfil their potential.

Deputy Seamus Healy raised the important issues of special educational needs and learning support. Separate from DEIS, I recently announced a new model of resource teacher allocation. It will involve 900 additional resource teachers next year who will be allocated in a way that better meets the needs of children with learning support and special educational needs and foreign nationals. The resources will go to where there is the greatest need.

As regards foreign nationals and Travellers, the matter raised by Deputy Jackie Cahill, there are individual schemes that support children with special needs because of the nationalities of their parents. If a school believes it has a particular difficulty, it can apply in respect of the learning needs of children for whom English or Irish is not the spoken language in the home. This is the first step in seeking to put more resources into disadvantaged areas, just as we are putting more resources into special education, and tailoring that approach to the best advantage of children in order that they can progress successfully and fulfil their potential in the education system. It is one of the core goals of our education strategy to improve the way in which we support children with a disadvantage.

Although the schools the Deputies have mentioned are not included, five schools in County Tipperary are receiving this advantage and I hope to be able to extend that number. I guarantee that I will set this as a priority and ensure our resources are deployed to best effect in all of the schools we support.

6:40 pm

Photo of Jackie CahillJackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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We acknowledge that five schools in County Tipperary have been accepted into the scheme, but we are discussing Tipperary town which, by any objective assessment, is an underprivileged area. Its community feels let down. Will the Minister commit to reviewing the five primary schools in the town? In any examination of the criteria they would qualify for DEIS status. Their principals are perplexed to understand how they failed. They took a co-ordinated approach because the problems in Tipperary town crossed the five schools. It is 2005 since our schools were last accepted into the DEIS programme. That is an unacceptable length of time for these schools to wait to acquire DEIS status. The town has suffered many blows during the years owing to unemployment and its people feel as if they are being let down and left behind.

Photo of Séamus HealySéamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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Obviously, we welcome the inclusion of schools in County Tipperary in the scheme, but we are discussing Tipperary town. It is impossible for people on the ground who know it and know its school system - Oireachtas Members, teachers and parents - to believe these schools have not gained DEIS status. Will the Minister agree to review the decision? Crucially, will he agree to meet a deputation of the schools' principals and Oireachtas Members to review the situation and ensure Tipperary town's schools are included in the DEIS programme? The statistics I have supplied are real. There is real deprivation and unemployment in Tipperary town. The students in the schools require, and are entitled to have, DEIS status.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing us to raise this Topical Issue. Thanks to the Department's decision, children in Tipperary town must continue to suffer unacceptable levels of educational deprivation. They are to be denied the extra assistance that comes with DEIS status, for example, school breakfast and literacy programmes. They live in areas with the highest level of concentrated disadvantage and will never receive further help because, in the words of a departmental official, a significant social and demographic change would have to be observed before a reassessment would be considered. However, that is already the situation, as the statistics show. In plain language, this means that the Department knows that the children are poor and deprived, but they will have to wait until they are even deeper in poverty and deprivation before it can help. That is ridiculous. It is 12 years since the last review, which is unacceptable. Will the Minister commit to directing his departmental staff to change the criteria? If we could not meet them, something is wrong with them.

The Minister most certainly snubbed the people of Carrick-on-Suir. Tipperary was good to him. He came down and got a bean chéile, with which we are delighted. The people and children of Carrick-on-Suir deserve better than what they have received. This is at the other end of south Tipperary. What the Department has done is shameful.

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thought for a while that the Deputy was from Lisdoonvarna.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I have been there once or twice.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The assessment method has nothing to do with me or my like or dislike of a particular part of the country. It is an objective method that has been used-----

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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It is not and could not be.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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-----in the same way for every school throughout the country. We have on this occasion been able to increase the number of schools in the disadvantaged programme by 2%. The criteria I cited are the ones that are used and that the Deputies cited. They relate to unemployment rates, social class, occupation, overcrowding of children, lone parents, the education levels of parents, dependency ratios and population decline. These are objective measures which are applied to every school in the same way. Tipperary's need has been recognised. Two additional schools in Carrick-on-Suir have received special DEIS status. We envisage that some schools that have not been included this time have a case to make, but we have only been able to include those in the areas with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. However, I hope to be in a position to look afresh at the matter in the future.

To respond to Deputy Jacie Cahill, any school can seek a review of how the process has been applied in its case, but the same criteria apply.

Deputy Seamus Healy referred to high levels of learning support and special educational needs. The service is allocated not through the DEIS programme but through resource teacher allocations. I have reformed that system in order that, from next September, it will be done in a fairer way, with resource following the need in a school. The 900 additional teachers will go to the schools with the greatest levels of need. This is a beneficial change. We will see progressive improvement in the way resources follow the children with the greatest learning support and special educational needs.

This is the start, not the end, of a journey.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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It is a long way to Tipperary.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I can understand why people will say another school should have been included, but this has been done in a fair and equitable manner and is in no way politically influenced.

Photo of Séamus HealySéamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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Will the Minister meet the deputation?