Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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539. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department will undertake a review of the assessment for DEIS to take into account demographic changes, particularly changes in areas where housing was traditionally owner-occupied but is increasingly rented with State support. [54420/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In March I was glad to be able to announce a major expansion of the DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme which means 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 my Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the 2023 allocation to in the region of €180million.

The extension of the DEIS programme to additional schools follows an extensive body of work which has been undertaken by the DEIS technical group in relation to the development of a model to identify the concentrated levels of disadvantage of schools. The DEIS identification process under DEIS Plan 2017, is based on an objective, statistics-based model to determine which schools merit inclusion in the programme. An extensive body of work was undertaken by the DEIS technical group in relation to enhancing and refining the DEIS identification model.

The key data sources used in the DEIS identification process are the Department of Education (DE) Primary Online Database (POD) and Post-Primary Online (PPOD) Databases, and CSO data from the National Census of Population as represented in the Pobal HP Index for Small Areas, which is a method of measuring the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical area. The model takes into account the student cohort and the relative disadvantage within a given school. The DEIS identification model took 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.

A detailed paper on the refined DEIS identification model is available on gov.ie at www.gov.ie/en/publication/a3c9e-extension-of-deis-to-further-schools/#how-schools-were-selected-for-inclusion-in-deis.

Schools that were not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS identification model to their school enrolment data were provided with the opportunity to have that outcome reviewed. The DEIS appeals process was applied fairly across all appellants and the results are final. My Department will continue to support schools to deliver high quality, inclusive teaching and learning to students and young learners.

It is important to note that the extension of the DEIS programme to new schools is just one phase of work in my vision 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 that 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.

In addition to this, following the National Census 2022 held on the 3rd April, 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, when available, can be considered by my Department to inform future resource allocation to tackle educational disadvantage.