Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a school (details supplied) in County Kerry will receive DEIS status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23437/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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A key priority for my Department is to prioritise and target resources in schools with the most concentrated levels of educational disadvantage. That challenge is significant given the current economic climate and the target to reduce public expenditure. Therefore, there is no capacity for any additionality in the DEIS programme.

The process of identifying schools for participation in DEIS 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.

Second-level schools were selected by reference to centrally-held data from the Post-Primary Pupils and State Examinations Commission databases. The identification process was in line with international best practice and had regard to, and employed, the existing and most appropriate data sources available.

Following the identification process, a review mechanism was established to address the concerns of those schools that did not qualify for inclusion in the School Support Programme but that regarded themselves as having a level of disadvantage which was of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the Programme. The school to which the Deputy refers did not submit an application for review at that time.

It should be noted that none of the existing schools in the country, which were unsuccessful in the initial identification and subsequent review processes, were ever admitted to the DEIS programme.