Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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361. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of DEIS schools in County Wexford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10015/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) is a key initiative of my Department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing these universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a targeted and equitable way to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level, that promotes equity across the primary and post-primary sector.

In March 2022 I was glad to be able to announce a major expansion of the DEIS programme. This means that, for the first time since 2017, the programme has been significantly expanded to include an additional 322 schools. This means that the DEIS programme now supports over 240,000 students in over 1,200 schools addressing educational disadvantage.

In the 2022/2023 school year there are currently 32 Primary schools and 11 Post-Primary schools in the DEIS Programme, in County Wexford.

A copy of the breakdown of all schools included in the DEIS programme in the 2022/2023 school year is available on gov.ie at www.gov.ie/en/policy-information/4018ea-deis-delivering-equality-of-opportunity-in-schools/#deis-schools-2022-2023.

This recent expansion will add an additional €32million to my Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall Department of Education allocation for the programme to €180million.

I am very conscious of the benefits of the DEIS programme. Analysis has shown that since the programme began in 2006, it has helped to close the gap in achievement between schools serving the highest levels of educational disadvantage and those serving populations with little or no disadvantage. It has provided children who come to education at a disadvantage with an equitable opportunity to achieve their potential in education.

However, the extension of the DEIS programme to new schools is just one component 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 also recognise that there are students at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools. Since June 2020, and over the past three budgets, I have secured funding to provide measures to support children in this regard. As part of Budget 2023, I announced over €50 million to provide free books to primary school pupils within the free education scheme from next September. I have also further improved the staffing schedule for all primary schools to 23:1, the lowest it has ever been.

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, when available, will be considered by my Department to help inform future resource allocation to tackle educational disadvantage.

The next phase of work will consider all schools, within and outside the DEIS programme and explore the overall allocation of resources to schools to tackle educational disadvantage. Part of this programme of work will involve consultation with relevant stakeholders over the coming months.