Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)

I thank the Senators for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the position of the Department of Education and Science in respect of Scoil an Chroí Naoife, Ballinasloe, County Galway.

Tackling educational disadvantage is one of the top priorities of the Department of Education and Science. By ensuring that available educational resources are targeted at the most disadvantaged people in the education system at all levels, the objective is to ensure that all young people leave the education system with a high quality education and related qualifications to support their full participation in society and in the economy. The Department's approach to tackling educational disadvantage is set in the context of the Government's National Action Plan Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, 2003-2005, NAPS inclusion and the latest partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress, which contains a special initiative focused on literacy, numeracy and early school leavers.

Some €540 million is being provided by the Department in 2004 for programmes specifically designed to tackle educational disadvantage in accordance with the strategies outlined in the NAPS inclusion and Sustaining Progress. This includes provision for programmes at pre-school, primary and post-primary levels, as well as provision for the youth sector, further education measures and programmes designed to broaden access to third level for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This direct expenditure on educational disadvantage represents an increase of over €80 million on the 2003 provision and comprises some 8.45% of total projected expenditure by the Department in 2004.

Scoil an Chroí Naoife, Ballinasloe, is included in the urban dimension of the Giving Children an Even Break programme, which was launched in 2001 to tackle educational disadvantage at primary level. Each school participating in this programme is in receipt of a level of additional support reflecting the level of concentration of pupils from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds in the school. These levels of disadvantage were established as a result of a comprehensive survey of primary schools carried out by the Educational Research Centre, ERC, in 2000 at the request of the Department of Education and Science. All the schools identified as having pupils enrolled with characteristics of disadvantage were invited to participate in Giving Children an Even Break. This programme replaced the previous process of designation of schools that serve areas of educational disadvantage, with the Department adopting the more refined approach of ensuring that individual "at risk" pupils are targeted.

Under the programme, Scoil an Chroí Naoife is benefiting from the allocation of supplementary grant aid towards providing additional educational supports for the children concerned. The total amount of supplementary support provided since 2001 is approximately €20,700 and the school has been allocated an amount of €4,120 under Giving Children an Even Break for the 2004-2005 school year.

The staffing of a primary school is determined by reference to the enrolment of the school on 30 September of the previous school year. With an enrolment of 269 pupils in total on 30 September 2003, the school has the following level of staffing: a principal and ten mainstream teachers, two learning support teachers, four resource teachers for Travellers and three resource teachers for children with special needs. The school is also in receipt of supplementary capitation grants of approximately €23,000 per annum to support the education of the Traveller children enrolled there.

Scoil an Chroí Naoife has received an allocation of 19 whole-time equivalent teaching posts for the 2004-05 school year as already outlined and its overall pupil-teacher ratio is approximately 14:1 at present. While the school has received all of the posts to which it is entitled under current arrangements, the Department will keep the school's staffing position under review from year to year in the light of changing circumstances.

The Department of Education and Science is finalising a review of educational disadvantage schemes with a view to building on what has been achieved to date, adopting a more systematic, targeted and integrated approach and strengthening the capacity of the system to meet the educational needs of disadvantaged children and young people. The Department will announce the results of this review, and its impact on existing schemes, as soon as possible. I thank both Senators for raising this matter and I trust this clarifies the position.