Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, for being here and I also acknowledge the communication from the Minister, Deputy McEntee, on my Topical Issue. I wish to raise the roll-out of DEIS plus, which is a significant development in education across this country. It is something of keen focus for the Labour Party. I know the Government has announced, following the general election this year, that DEIS plus would be rolled out across many schools in the country but my firm belief is that we still do not have a timeline or a budget for this.

Last week, I had the great privilege to meet three school principals. One of these, Mr. Kieran Golden, was my former boss in Mayfield Community School. I was absolutely honoured to teach in Mayfield Community School with such fantastic students and colleagues. The school is a DEIS school. The school principals outlined to us the significant challenges they face. The job of a school principal now has significantly changed over many years. Their job, particularly in a DEIS school where you are dealing with serious, different needs as opposed to just academic needs, is quite significant. I will take Mayfield Community School as one example. The deputy principal in the school is a fantastic woman. She is not a full-time deputy principal. She is on 0.75 hours of a deputy principal's role. That is extremely difficult to comprehend because the level of need in the school is quite significant.

Today, the Labour Party launched its alternative budget for 2026 and the party is fully committed to investing in the roll-out of DEIS plus across band 1 schools in this country. It is quite a significant step to take because we must ensure there are absolutely no barriers for any child in this country to accessing the appropriate school that is needed for that child, be it in primary or post-primary. We must also ensure that they have the relevant special educational needs teachers, SNAs and absolutely any other special educational teacher they need to progress in their academic life. Alongside this, we need to promote in all post-primary schools across this country the opportunity to progress in academic life or the opportunity to progress into apprenticeships. We did not have that across the island for many years. As a former secondary school teacher, I can attest that we need to see far more of it. I spent a lot of my time while I was teaching trying to encourage all students, particularly those in fifth and sixth year of the schools I taught in, to progress after they finished school into whatever career they wanted. The rolling out of DEIS plus would be a serious advantage to giving these children the opportunity to progress in life after they finished school. It is extremely important that we acknowledge the fantastic role that SNAs, special educational teachers, guidance counsellors, mainstream teachers, school principals and deputy principals play in our education system. I also want to acknowledge the fantastic students we have in this country. A lot of the time for many years we focused particularly on how good the child was academically. However, right now, we also have significant focus on what other brilliant achievements other children have, be it in academia, sport, arts or whatever it may be. I ask the Government now to produce a timeline and a budget for the rolling out of DEIS plus to benefit not just schools but most importantly students in this country.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for speaking on this issue with such passion. He has a lot of knowledge in this area. He has seen the benefits that DEIS has provided with those extra supports in terms of schools where there are a variety of challenges. There are disadvantages areas and students from all different backgrounds. I have also seen first-hand in my own constituency the benefits those extra DEIS supports can bring. This is why, in the previous Government, we committed to the roll-out of DEIS plus to increase those supports and increase the number of students who would benefit from them. Fair play to the Deputy; he has quite accurately highlighted the benefits of it and also the incredible work that teachers, SNAs, principals and staff do right across the board.

The Department spends over €180 million annually, providing additional supports to almost 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme and reaching approximately 250,000 children. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, is committed to narrowing the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introducing innovative solutions to address disadvantage. Recent research, including the OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Educational Disadvantage in Ireland have highlighted the role of the DEIS programme in providing an education system that consistently outperforms many other OECD countries but also exhibits relative socioeconomic fairness, making it one of the stronger performers globally. This research has also highlighted, however, important differences in outcomes persist for students who experience very high levels of deprivation.

That is why the Government is committed to providing a DEIS plus scheme to support schools with the highest levels of disadvantage. To meet this commitment, the DEIS plus scheme will provide additional support to schools with the highest levels of educational disadvantage and seek to improve education outcomes for children and young people in these schools. The scheme will provide very targeted supports to those who most need it, to tackle the impact of intergenerational disadvantage and to empower them to achieve their potential through education.

Work to develop the scheme is well advanced and the Minister is engaging with Cabinet colleagues to secure the necessary funding for the scheme through the budgetary process. A DEIS plus design advisory group worked with the Department officials to develop the proposal for the scheme. The needs of the children and young people drove the development work. The group includes school principals, home school community liaison officers, and school completion programme co-ordinators. These are professionals who work directly with children experiencing high intergenerational disadvantage. The Department has also engaged directly with children and young people to inform this work. The focus is on shaping a DEIS plus scheme that will support schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage to meet the needs of the children.

The Department is also actively engaging with other Departments and agencies, education partners, and stakeholders across the education sector to develop the DEIS plus scheme and aims to integrate and build on existing whole-of-government supports. The culmination of all this work will see the achievement of the programme for Government commitment to deliver a new DEIS plus scheme, to provide targeted support for schools with the highest levels of educational disadvantage, and improve outcomes for children and young people.

As Deputy Kenny can see from this response, a whole lot of work and effort has already gone into designing DEIS plus. It is well advanced and there has been significant stakeholder engagement. The Deputy asked specifically when it can be rolled out. We do not have an answer to that right now but, in fairness, by the Deputy highlighting it and highlighting the importance of it this does accelerate and put the spotlight on the need to roll out DEIS plus as quickly as possible.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I appreciate the response by the Minister of State. It is extremely important that we continue to highlight the significant issues faced by children across this country and the barriers before them in education. Today the Labour Party launched our Alternative Budget 2026. A significant part of this relates to disadvantage in our school communities and in education. In our alternative budget we want to begin the phasing in of all DEIS plus with identified clusters, which would cost €3 million. We want to expand the City Connects programme to all DEIS band 1 schools, beginning with schools in DEIS plus clusters. The first year costs would be €7.2 million. We want to cut the DEIS schools class size ratio to 15:1. The phased first year costs would be €5.5 million. We want an additional 100% increase in capitation for DEIS schools. The first year cost to cover increased energy and operational costs would be €18.2 million. We want to extend the summer school meals pilot to all DEIS schools, which would be €3.2 million. We want a 10% increase in school completion programme funding, which would be €3.7 million. We want to appoint 20 additional home school community liaison positions, which would be €1.7 million. We have a significant costed plan in the Labour Party to introduce DEIS plus. That is the energy and dedication we need from this Government now to tackle disadvantaged children in this country.

I am absolutely fully aware of and appreciate the work that has been done by the Government on this, but with the announcement having been so long ago, we must make sure of this next week. I am hoping for this for the Department of Education and Youth and that when the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Chambers stand here next Tuesday, they will give us a clear outline as to what budget will be given towards the advancement of DEIS plus in this country. I appreciate the Minister of State's response.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I reiterate that the Government is committed to tackling child poverty and it sees education as a key enabler to achieve that. The development of the DEIS plus scheme will be a further positive step in this commitment to lifting more children out of poverty to give them the futures they deserve. Since its introduction the DEIS programme has tackled the impact of poverty through supporting the improved attendance and progression of children and young people experiencing poverty. It has also improved education attainment levels, which create greater opportunities for employment and enhanced career pathways. The development of the new DEIS plus scheme will be a key part of a new DEIS plan, which will be published this year. The new DEIS plan will set the long-term direction on supporting children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage and on empowering them to achieve their potential. The plan will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools. It will also look to develop more innovative approaches to tackling educational disadvantage and to work towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time.

The DEIS plan will be published this year. I completely appreciate the efforts of the Labour Party in publishing a costed budget with a focus on education, on trying to remove those gaps within education, and on the supports for disadvantage areas while also continuing a lot of the supports that were introduced by the previous Government, including the hot meals scheme. I appreciate that.

It is really important we are having this discussion. We are all behind the establishment of DEIS plus and the expansion of those DEIS services. As the Deputy and the Minister have said, education is the key tool in addressing any of those socioeconomic issues that we have.