Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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451. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to open applications by newly sanctioned schools (detailed supplied) in County Galway, which are now up and running, to the delivering equality of opportunity in schools scheme; her views that such schools, in disadvantaged areas, are at a disadvantage by not being able to apply for this scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6885/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Given the current economic climate and the target to reduce public expenditure, prioritising and maintaining resources for children at risk of educational disadvantage is a significant challenge. The need to maintain existing supports for schools catering for the most concentrated levels of educational disadvantage means that there is no capacity for additionality to the DEIS programme.

The DEIS programme is the subject of ongoing evaluation by the Educational Research Centre and the Inspectorate of my Department. The focus of this research is to ensure the successful implementation of DEIS and that the best possible approaches to measuring progress and outcomes at both local and national level are being used.

An overall report on the learning from DEIS is currently being prepared by the Economic and Social Research Institute. This report will incorporate information on the various inputs, processes and educational outcomes contained in the findings from the DEIS research and evaluations conducted by the Educational Research Centre and the Department's Inspectorate to date. It will also review other Irish and international related research on educational disadvantage. The report will assess the main findings of this research and provide advice to inform future policy direction on educational disadvantage, including DEIS. This report is currently being finalised and I expect to receive it shortly.

Accordingly, for the present, my focus and that of my Department is on maintaining current DEIS supports and the learning from the programme and applying it to future policy making. This will ensure that future policy direction to tackle educational disadvantage will be evidence-based and grounded in the solid body of experience provided by the DEIS programme.