Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, is in the Chamber to deal with this matter. I ask him to immediately, not some time in the future, end the discrimination and injustice that pupils of Inver national school are experiencing by being denied the benefits offered by the DEIS scheme. The school is in a rural area with dispersed national schools. Every other school in the vicinity has DEIS status, which means they get certain educational supports so children can come through their education with a fair chance in life. Inver national school meets all the DEIS criteria, such as high unemployment, low wages and low academic standards, which it shares with the other national schools in the area.

This has been going on for 11 years. If DEIS means anything, and if we can have confidence in it supporting people in educational disadvantage and social disadvantage, something needs to be done now. The Minister of State could be the person to do that. The reality is that this school had disadvantaged status up to 2005. At this juncture, with the inception of DEIS, forms and reminders were sent out to this school to be completed but the principal failed to fill out those forms and, to this day, the pupils of the school have been missing out.Not only are the children at a disadvantage, their parents pay more for their education than any other parents in Erris. The school does not receive the same funding as other primary schools in the area. It does not receive the same book grants and it is excluded from applying for IT grants even though every other school in Erris can. The school has to pay twice the amount for visiting experts and workshops than every other primary school in the area. How can this be acceptable? Through no fault of their own, children have been at a disadvantage for a generation. This has to stop. I acknowledge a review is under way but when I was in the Dáil, I raised this issue several times. This review has been ongoing a long time and the notion that it will be concluded by December and that action will be taken next September cannot be stood over. Something needs to be done in the interim.

There is a blockage in the Department. Officials are afraid to set a precedent but this is an exceptional case. This community was ravaged by the divisions caused by the Corrib gas project with neighbours going against neighbours during a deep and bitter dispute. Over the past ten years, many of the injustices have been righted in this area. Anomalies have been removed and mistakes forgiven and corrected. Will the Minister of State and his senior Minister stand over and ameliorate one outstanding source of division, which is the discrimination the children in Inver national school have experienced for the past 11 years? There can only be one answer because other than that, the benefits of DEIS will mean nothing. Over the years, successive Ministers have lauded and praised the success of DEIS in promoting school attendance, general well-being, mental health, and outcomes with children staying in school longer. This community and these children should be given a chance. It is an exceptional case through no fault of their own. The principal who was charged with taking care of these children failed to do their duty. This cannot be left to civil servants. Action has to be taken by the Minister of the day. Successive Ministers have failed.