Written answers

Tuesday, 29 March 2022

Department of Education and Skills

Education Schemes

Photo of Joe McHughJoe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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409. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that the independent appeals process takes into consideration a school's (details supplied) circumstances as the only school excluded in the recent DEIS announcement from a group of primary and secondary schools which were added to the school meals programme in 2017 as non-DEIS schools with a level of disadvantage; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15981/22]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I announced on the 9th March, 2022 the expansion of the DEIS programme benefitting 347 schools. These schools were identified as having the highest levels of educational disadvantage. In the 2022/23 academic year there will be 1,194 schools in the DEIS Programme - 960 Primary and 234 Post Primary. This will also mean a €32million increase in my Department's expenditure on DEIS programme from 2023. This is the largest ever increase in investment in the programme and will extend DEIS status to schools serving the highest proportions of pupils at risk of educational disadvantage.

This announcement follows an extensive body of work by the DEIS technical group to develop the refined DEIS identification model to identify the concentrated levels of disadvantage of schools. Schools were identified for inclusion in the programme through the refined DEIS identification model which is an objective, statistics based model which uses information from the Department of Education enrolment databases and the Pobal HP Deprivation index. The DEIS identification model now takes into consideration the significant educational disadvantage experienced by Traveller and Roma learners and by students residing in direct provision or emergency homeless accommodation. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model has been applied fairly and equally to all schools

Schools that have not been included in the DEIS programme at this time will have an opportunity to have that decision reviewed. My Department will provide further information in the coming days on this appeals process on my Department’s website.

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