Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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490. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount of funding provided for DEIS schools over and above normal school funding. [36749/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s overall annual spend on the DEIS Programme is approximately €125 million. Additional funding is provided by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection for the School Meals Programme and by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for the School Completion Programme.

The substantial annual investment by my Department on the DEIS Programme includes the provision of;

- 415 Home School Community Liaison Coordinators serving 533 schools, catering for approximately 156,000 pupils.

- Additional posts for DEIS Band 1 primary schools to allow for a reduced pupil teacher ratio.

- Curriculum supports

- Priority access to continuing professional development

- School Excellence Fund - DEIS

- DEIS grants and enhanced book grants.

The full list of supports available to DEIS Schools is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

In the 2019/20 school year there are 891 schools participating in the DEIS Programme serving over 183,000 pupils and the full list of schools (broken down by Urban Band 1, Urban Band 2, Rural and Post-Primary) is available also on my Department’s website at the following link;

The list also gives the location of each school.

The number of schools participating in the DEIS Programme can change slightly year on year taking account of both school amalgamations and school closures. 79 schools were added to the DEIS Programme for the first time from September 2017 following the application of the new DEIS identification process and 30 more schools were upgraded from Band 2 to Band 1.

Each DEIS school is paid an annual DEIS Grant which the school should use to support those pupils most at risk of educational disadvantage. The following table gives details of DEIS Grant expenditure for the 2017/18 and 2018/19 school years and the latest data available for the 2019/20 school year.