Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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83. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider the addition of young carers as a target group for educational supports, such as Tusla’s school completion programme, given the ESRI’s findings that young people who care for a relative are less likely to move on to higher education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6342/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is fully committed to supporting all children and young people to achieve their potential. As Minister, I have increased both universal and targeted supports aimed at removing barriers to achievement for all children, including young people who may be at risk of educational disadvantage as a result of caring commitments.

To further the work of this Government in reducing costs for families, tackling disadvantage and supporting achievement of all our children and young people, I secured €10.5 billion for Education in Budget ’24. As Minister, I have increased the provision of a number of resources that support children at risk of educational disadvantage across all schools. These resources include the new free schoolbooks scheme for all children and young people up to Junior Cycle, access to the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and access to guidance counsellors in post-primary schools.

Under Budget 2024, I secured an increased allocation to enhance the provision provided by Tusla Education Support Service to promote attendance, participation and retention in all schools.

Supplementing the universal supports available to all schools, the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme is a key policy initiative of my department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. Schools, because of their unique insight to the needs of the children and young people enrolled in their schools, are guided and encouraged to target these resources where they are needed most.

The programme includes in the region of 1,200 schools and supports approximately 240,000 students. This means 1 in 4 students and 30 per cent of schools are supported in the programme. My department spends over €180 million annually providing supplementary supports for schools in the DEIS programme.

The School Completion Programme (SCP) is a key support for urban primary and post-primary schools in the DEIS programme. The School Completion Programme is a targeted programme of support for children and young people in primary and post-primary school who have been identified as potentially at risk of early school leaving. In the schools where School Completion Programme is available, this includes children and young people who are carers and may be at risk of early school leaving.

Tusla Education Support Service, including the School Completion Programme, were included under the remit of my department in January 2021. Since then I have secured 5 per cent funding increases for School Completion Programme in both 2021 and 2023 and extended the reach of the programme to in the region of 175 additional schools. The overall budget of the School Completion Programme has been increased by almost €10 million in that time, and it now receives an annual allocation of approximately €34 million from my department.

The majority of schools included in the School Completion Programme are in the DEIS programme. There are 121 School Completion Programme projects nationally operating in every county in Ireland. These projects provide support to circa 800 primary and post-primary schools.

In Ireland, retention to Leaving Certificate is high. We have one of the lowest rates of early school leaving in the European Union. 91.7 per cent of students who enrolled in post-primary school in 2016 sat the Leaving Certificate or obtained Calculated Grades in 2021 or 2022.

I recognise however, that more can always be done to support children and young people who face barriers to achieving their potential in education. That is why my Department have invited the OECD Strength Through Diversity: Education for Inclusive Societies Project to review the current policy approach for the allocation of resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage in Ireland.

This review will provide an independent expert opinion on the current resource allocation model. It will inform future policy aimed at providing every child and young person, in particular those at risk of educational disadvantage, with the opportunity to achieve their potential in education.