Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will confirm his commitment to keeping so-called legacy posts in place in DEIS schools in the most disadvantaged areas. [31745/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Following the launch of the DEIS Plan 2017, I made it clear that schools currently participating in the DEIS programme would continue to receive the same level of supports under the School Support Programme for the 2017/18 school year.  This includes no change to the current situation regarding posts allocated under previous educational disadvantage schemes in DEIS schools (known as 'legacy posts') subject to the usual arrangements which apply in relation to staffing allocations.

DEIS Plan 2017 continues to provide the same Staffing Schedule, of 20:1 in Junior and 24:1 in senior classes, for schools with the highest levels of disadvantage.  A range of factors contribute to determining the staffing allocation for individual schools including changes to pupil enrolment.  As the teaching allocation to schools, including legacy posts, is enrolment based, this determines whether schools gain or lose teaching posts from year to year. Schools are very familiar with the Staffing Schedule process and know that fluctuations in enrolment may impact on staffing allocation year on year.

A central aim of the DEIS Plan is to use available resources for maximum impact, in schools where there are high concentrations of pupils at risk of educational disadvantage.  As part of an overall goal of ensuring that additional resources are correctly matched to identified need, there are a number of specific actions in DEIS Plan 2017 to ensure that the optimal level of teaching resources is established as part of the DEIS Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.

Pending the outcome of this work, which will inform future provision in this area, it would not be appropriate for me to make any commitment in relation to the staffing of DEIS schools.