Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To put this in context, many schools which are unhappy they did not get a DEIS designation point out all the children they have with special needs or with language difficulties. The DEIS programme costs €100 million and is just one instrument we use in education policy to help children who otherwise might struggle. We have language support for children who do not have English as their first language. We have special needs interventions which cost €1.5 billion and we have increased resource teachers by 41% over the past five years. Even in the difficult times, we kept investing.

There is a range of supports and DEIS is one of them. It is an area-based disadvantage scheme which has the potential to grow in the future. Apart from the €100 million I put in, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs puts in about €25 million in school completion and school liaison programmes. The Minister for Social Protection puts in €25 million, a figure which will increase this year, in the school meals programme. We are expanding and reviewing both the home school liaison and the completion programmes to make them more effective. This is a work in progress.