Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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182. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has received correspondence from a school (details supplied); if the financial assistance to the school will be increased in order to deliver high quality education as Gaeilge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53711/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that I have received the correspondence referred to and a response has issued.  

The school in question has opted to participate in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme which provides schools with the opportunity to access extra supports and resources on the basis of the implementation of specified language-based criteria. To date, these resources have included additional continuing professional development and information sessions delivered by An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG), release days for action-planning and advisory support visits to schools from a team of inspectors in my Department.

The budget for the implementation of the Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022 has more than doubled to €2.3m for 2018, which means that further supports and resources will be provided to schools participating in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme on the basis of the approval of their action plans for improvement in Spring 2018 including:

- A grant of €1,000 to purchase Irish-medium resources

- Additional language support hours, which will be equivalent to providing an extra 30 whole-time teachers in Gaeltacht primary schools

- Additional professional development for teachers, with substitute cover, provided by COGG, and the opportunity to participate in a new part-time M.Ed. in Irish-medium and Gaeltacht Education

- Extra advisory visits from school Inspectors

- The opportunity to take part in a pilot project to link post-primary Gaeltacht schools digitally to extend subject choice through the medium of Irish

Full details of the additional supports and resources that will be provided to schools participating in the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme will be outlined in a new circular, which will be issued by the Department to schools in Gaeltacht language planning areas in early 2018. 

The correspondence received from the school made reference to its non-DEIS status.  As regards the designation of DEIS status to the school, it is important to note that DEIS is designed to address educational disadvantage and adopts a supplied by schools through the POD (primary on-line database) and PPOD (post-primary on-line database) and CSO (Central Statistics Office) Small Area data as represented by the HP Index of Deprivation.

A further assessment of all schools, using updated school data and the updated Pobal HP Index data, is underway. The assessment will demonstrate changes to the socio demographic status of schools and determine the number of schools that meet the criteria for inclusion. Schools with the highest concentration of disadvantage based on updated information will be included in the programme, subject to resources.