Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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2. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the roll out and funding of DEIS plus, as of November 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59395/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Tackling educational disadvantage and, in particular, supporting students to fulfil or achieve their full potential in life is a key priority for me. The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level and it is important to acknowledge the success it has been over recent years. More than €180 million is provided annually to additional supports for almost 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme. Budget 2026 allocates an additional €16 million this year on top of that which will translate into €48 million in additional money for the next full year to support the implementation of a new DEIS strategy but also to introduce the new DEIS plus scheme which will start next year.

As Minister, I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and to introduce more innovative solutions to tackle educational disadvantage while at the same time making sure we invest more in what is working well because there is a huge amount that is working well. Part of delivering this objective will be the introduction of the new DEIS plus scheme. This scheme will provide additional resources to schools with the very highest level of need. To inform the development of the DEIS plus scheme, I have established a design advisory group. On that group, we have quite a number of different people, including principals, home school community liaison teams, school completion programme co-ordinators - people who work with students day in, day out and understand and know the need that is there - individuals from my Department and teams working with young people from across areas where there is high intergenerational disadvantage. We are also intensifying our engagement with other Government Departments and agencies, whether education partners or stakeholders across the education sector to develop the DEIS plus scheme.

What I said was that I wanted to have both the new DEIS scheme with DEIS plus published by the end of the year. We are still on track for that. What we are doing at the moment is essentially looking at what the different measures that have been identified are, where the greatest level of need is, what we could introduce in the earlier stages and how can we grow on that. Obviously €16 million is not going to provide us with the full DEIS plus scheme we will inevitably end up with. However, we will start to introduce certain elements of that scheme next year and build on it. What we are working on at the moment is identifying what will provide the greatest level of support at the earliest stages possible and on how we can build on that and develop the best scheme possible.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I appreciate that. With that design advisory group, are we on track to hopefully roll out DEIS plus for the academic year 2026-2027? Is that the priority for Government? In relation to the €16 million grant funding, that will not be the full amount to roll out DEIS plus in totality but is it the job of the design advisory group to come up with the specific schools or areas we were going to target first? If so, how do we pick those schools or areas? The Minister knows I am absolutely willing to work with her. At the centre of this is the most disadvantaged children across the country and the Minister will appreciate that the questions that are forthcoming constantly in relation to this are genuinely based on the need for extra supports in our communities.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Shortly after being appointed to the role, I met with a large group of principals, deputy principals and people working in schools where there is educational disadvantage and they were clear they needed this scheme brought in as soon as possible to support and complement the huge amount of work they are doing.

On identifying schools, we will not require schools to apply for inclusion. We will use a methodology to identify schools and look at evidence to inform us, including census 2022 data, HP deprivation index data and other available relevant data. We will take that into consideration and apply it to certain schools across the country in different cities and towns. The process will focus on delivering a commitment to support schools with the highest level of educational disadvantage.

On the Deputy's point, where there is intergenerational disadvantage and challenges for the young person, the community and the family, we will look to support the community, family unit and student involved.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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DEIS plus is a welcome initiative and has been championed by my party and the former Deputy Ó Ríordáin, now an MEP. There has to be cross-party support for the roll-out of DEIS plus. It is about the implementation being as quick as possible because schools need it.

Deputy O'Rourke and I met with a number of principals recently in the audiovisual room in relation to their schools and one point they focused on was the deputy principal role. I hope DEIS plus will help to tackle disadvantage in many schools across the country. We only have 0.75 of a deputy principal in one DEIS school in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of Cork, for example. I do not doubt the Minister's bona fides on this. We just need to get it done as quickly as possible.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I fully agree and am eager to get this published as soon as possible and get these measures in place. The Deputy mentioned certain things and we are looking at all the things that have been asked of the Department. I am assured the asks are based on the understanding, knowledge and experience or our schools, principals, teachers and, particularly, the children who will benefit from this.

I point to the huge success so far of the DEIS programme. We have seen in recent years a reduced gap in the retention rates between DEIS and non-DEIS schools. It has halved, which is fantastic. For the number of young people in DEIS schools sitting the leaving certificate now, that gap has reduced significantly. Where we need to do much better is around the overall attainment rate in those schools. The DEIS plus programme should be able to help us understand what is at the crux of some of the issues young people face.

Complementing this - and it is very much part of the DEIS and DEIS plus schemes - is the focus on absenteeism. In DEIS schools - primary schools as well - there is a much higher rate of absenteeism. If children are not in school, no matter what we put there, we cannot support and target them. The work we do to encourage young people into school and to keep them there and support them will complement the work of DEIS and DEIS plus.