Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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488. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans, if any, to consider a school (details supplied) for the DEIS programme, similar to the national school in the same area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3179/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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 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 in a targeted and equitable way across the primary and post-primary sector.

Following the largest expansion of the DEIS programme to date in 2022, benefitting 361 schools, the programme now includes in the region of 1,200 schools and supports approximately 260,000 students. This expansion added an additional €32million to the department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall allocation for the programme to over €180million.

The DEIS programme is targeted at schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. Schools that were included in the programme in 2022 were those with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage as identified through the refined DEIS identification model. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model was applied fairly and equally to all schools. A detailed paper on the refined DEIS identification model is available on gov.ie.

It is possible for neighbouring schools to have a different profile in terms of proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the relative weighting of disadvantage apportioned in each. The designation of neighbouring schools to DEIS or non DEIS does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in one school but that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage of the two schools is different.

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.

The DEIS Plan is based on the premise that in order to have the maximum possible impact on providing opportunities for students most at risk of educational disadvantage, then extra resources need to be targeted as closely as possible at those students with the greatest level of need. This will involve further development of the DEIS programme to create a more dynamic resource allocation model where levels of resources more accurately follow the levels of need identified by objective data.

To support this, work my department 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.

In July 2024 my department welcomed the publication by the OECD Education for Inclusive Societies project of the ‘Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Educational Disadvantage in Ireland'. The OECD review sets a number of recommendations for future policy, to further improve equity and ensure every child and young person at risk of educational disadvantage is supported to achieve their potential in education.

Over the coming months my department will work with other government departments and agencies, the education partners, and stakeholders across the education sector to develop tangible actions informed by the recommendations set out. These actions will aim to build on the success of the DEIS programme through the development of a dynamic resource allocation model that can respond to changing levels of need and ensure that all children and young people in both DEIS and non-DEIS schools are supported to achieve in education.

Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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489. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of DEIS schools in County Meath; and the location and name of these schools, in tabular format. [3180/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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There are 12 Primary Schools in the DEIS programme in Co Meath.

There are 4 post-primary schools in the DEIS programme in Co Meath: