Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a school (details supplied) in County Donegal is included in the schools to benefit from the DEIS programme. [17497/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school to which the Deputy refers was not selected to participate in the new School Support Programme under DEIS, as it did not meet the criteria developed by the Educational Research Centre (ERC), who managed the identification process under DEIS on behalf of my Department.

In the case of second-level schools, my Department supplied the ERC with centrally-held data from the Post-Primary Pupils and State Examinations Commission databases. Based on an analysis of these data, the variables used to determine eligibility for inclusion in the School Support Programme were as follows: Medical card data for Junior Certificate candidates (including Junior Certificate School Programme candidates) ; Junior Certificate retention rates by school; Junior Certificate exam results aggregated to school level (expressed as an OPS — "Overall Performance Scale" — score) This was based on each student's performance in the seven subjects in which s/he performed best; Leaving Certificate retention rates by school.

A review process has been put in place for primary and second-level schools that did not qualify for participation in the new School Support Programme (SSP) and that regard themselves as having a level of disadvantage which is of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the Programme. The review process will operate under the direction of an independent person, charged with ensuring that all relevant identification processes and procedures were properly followed in the case of schools applying for a review. The closing date for receipt of review applications was Friday 31 March, 2006.

The school to which the Deputy refers has submitted an application for review and a formal acknowledgement has issued to the school. It is anticipated that the review process will be completed before the end of the current school year. Under the DEIS action plan. 840 schools were invited to participate in the new School Support Programme. These comprised 640 primary schools (320 urban/town schools and 320 rural schools) and 200 second-level schools. Over 99% (833) of the schools concerned have accepted the invitation to participate in the new programme. A list of these schools is available on my Department's website.