Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 389: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the schools which will lose their disadvantage status under the giving children an even break programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47464/08]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Giving Children an Even Break (GCEB) Programme operated from 2001 to 2005 and supported schools to implement reduced class sizes of 20:1 in junior classes and 27:1 in senior classes in addition to providing additional financial resources. The scheme was integrated into DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunities in Schools), the new Action Plan for educational inclusion when it was launched in 2005. DEIS brings together, and builds upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. There are 876 schools in DEIS. These comprise 673 primary schools (199 Band 1, 141 Band 2 and 333 Rural) and 203 second-level schools.

Under DEIS all 199 Urban Band 1 schools benefit from reduced class sizes of 20:1 in junior classes and 24:1 in senior classes. In addition some 53 DEIS Urban Band 2 schools and 15 non DEIS schools enjoy the lower pupil teacher ratio from the pre-existing GCEB scheme. These reduced pupil teacher ratios are explicitly protected under DEIS and will continue for the duration of the DEIS programme.

In line with my focus on retaining resources in the most disadvantaged areas, it is important to note that following Budget 2009 those DEIS and non DEIS schools which benefit from a reduced pupil teacher ratio will not be affected by the general increase in the pupil teacher ratio.

Notwithstanding the increase of €302 million in the Education budget for 2009, which is a real achievement in the current economic climate, a number of tough and difficult decisions had to be taken in framing the 2009 Budget. These decisions were taken in order to control expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long term. In this respect Education, while protected to a much greater extent than most other areas of public expenditure, could not be entirely spared, and I acknowledge the impact of funding restrictions in a number of areas, including at school level. However, these are the inevitable result of the challenging economic environment and the need to manage Exchequer resources prudently. As a consequence it has become necessary to withdraw additional financial resources from all non DEIS schools with effect from 31 August 2009.

While it is appreciated that the discontinuation of these resources will impact on these schools, given the current challenging economic climate, I considered that it was prudent to advance the withdrawal of such supports from non DEIS schools to the beginning of the next school year.

The main focus of Social Inclusion measures will be to retain resources in DEIS schools. There is a need to target resources on the schools in most need and this approach is in line with the broad thrust of the recommendations of the Comptroller and Auditor General which are set out in his report on Primary Disadvantage of 2006, which recommended that the Department should focus its educational disadvantage measures on those schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.

Targeting resources at the most disadvantaged schools that are working to counteract educational disadvantage will continue to be a priority for the Government.