Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 280: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason a school (details supplied) in County Mayo is to lose the equivalent of two teachers and many other essential school activities due to the withdrawal of funding; her views on whether this is a severe blow to this school which is in a deprived area; the reason same is happening; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19991/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I want to state emphatically that no school has been told that they are going to lose any of the resources that they have been receiving under existing schemes for tackling disadvantage as a result of the introduction of the new DEIS initiative. On the contrary, the new School Support Programme is aimed at providing even more extra resources for the most disadvantaged schools in the country.

Schools that did not qualify for the new programme will keep the extra resources they are getting under existing schemes for the 2006/07 school year and after that they will continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among their pupils.

The new DEIS programme will be of huge benefit to schools in Mayo. 4 urban/town primary schools, 59 rural primary schools and 6 second level schools in Mayo have been invited to benefit from all the resources available from the new programme. Indeed, nearly 20% of all the rural schools invited to benefit from the new programme nationally are in Mayo.

I am sure the Deputy would agree that it is important to make sure that schools serving the most disadvantaged communities get all the extra support possible and will welcome the extra resources that DEIS will provide for Mayo schools.

It is precisely with this goal in mind that DEIS was designed. For example, over the years, no less than 8 separate schemes for disadvantaged primary schools have been put in place. Some schools were benefiting from just one or two of these and others were benefiting from more. The DEIS initiative is designed to ensure that the most disadvantaged schools benefit from a comprehensive package of supports, while ensuring that others continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among their pupils.

I can assure the Deputy that there is no reason for schools that haven't been identified for the new programme to worry as they will continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among their pupils. No school in Mayo has been told that they will lose any resources as a result of DEIS.

A review mechanism has been put in place to address the concerns of schools that did not qualify for inclusion in the School Support Programme but regard themselves as having a level of disadvantage which is of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the Programme. This mechanism 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 school referred to by the Deputy has submitted a review application.

It is intended that the review process will be completed by the end of the current school year.