Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 216: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a school (details supplied) in County Mayo will be included in Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools on consideration of their review application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25346/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a school (details supplied) in County Mayo will be included in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools on consideration of their review application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25348/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 220: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a primary school (details supplied) in County Mayo will be allowed to retain their rural co-ordinator post 2007; and if this school will be reviewed under DEIS to ensure that they are allocated adequate resources. [25350/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 221: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will review the loss of disadvantage status post 2007 for a primary school (details supplied) in County Mayo based on revised figures submitted by the school. [25351/06]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will review the loss of disadvantaged status to a cluster of schools (details supplied) in County Mayo in view of the negative effect this decision will have on the schools and the future educational development of their pupils; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25352/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 216, 218 and 220 to 222, inclusive, together.

DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme (SSP). The School Support Programme will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. The process of identifying primary and second-level schools for participation in the SSP was managed by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) on behalf of my Department and supported by quality assurance work co-ordinated through the Department's regional offices and the Inspectorate.

As a result of the identification process, 840 schools were invited to participate in the SSP. These comprised 640 primary schools (320 urban/town schools and 320 rural schools) and 200 second-level schools. I am delighted to say that 833 of the schools invited to join the new programme accepted the invitation. 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.

My Department is currently considering the arrangements to be made regarding the clustering of the 320 rural schools under the School Support Programme and other rural schools retaining their entitlements under previous programmes for 2006-07. Schools will be notified of the proposed arrangements in early September.

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. 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. All the schools to which the Deputy refers have submitted review applications. The review process is currently underway and it is intended that it will be completed by the end of the current school year.