Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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42. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the supports in the DEIS scheme are sufficient to meet the needs of schools in the most acute areas of disadvantage; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34942/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In March I announced a major expansion of the DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme. This announcement meant that, for the first time since 2017, the programme is being significantly expanded and eligible schools will now gain access to targeted supports to address educational disadvantage. This will add an additional €32million to the Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the 2023 allocation to a total of in the region of €180million. Schools were identified for inclusion in the programme through the refined DEIS identification model which is an objective, statistics based model. 

As a result of this announcement from September 2022 approximately 1 in 4 students will be supported in the programme. Details of all DEIS Supports are available at www.gov.ie/en/policy-information/4018ea-deis-delivering-equality-of-opportunity-in-schools/#supports-to-deis-schools .

Those students in urban schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage receive the greatest levels of support under the DEIS programme. Schools in Urban Band 1 receive additional teaching posts to provide for a small class size, a greater level of DEIS grant due to their high level of disadvantage and a lower threshold for the allocation of leadership posts. 

It is important to note that the extension of the DEIS programme to new schools is just one phase of work in for an inclusive education system which supports all learners to achieve their potential. While the DEIS programme supports those schools with the highest levels of concentrated educational disadvantage, I recognise that there are students at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools. Conscious of this, and recognising the need to target resources to those schools who need them most, the next phase of work will explore the allocation of resources to schools to tackle educational disadvantage. Part of this programme of work will involve consultation with all relevant stakeholders and will also consider insights from data following the application of the refined DEIS identification model.

In addition to this, following the National Census 2022 held on the 3rd April last it is envisaged that an updated HP Deprivation Index will be generated by Pobal and will be available in Q3 of 2023. My Department will engage with Pobal in relation to this process. The updated HP Deprivation Index can be considered by my Department to inform future resource allocation to tackle educational disadvantage.