John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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309. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department undertakes regular assessment of the inclusion of new schools in the DEIS Programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13045/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to fulfil their full potential in life is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth, and for the Government. The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. The DEIS programme provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all schools.

My department is investing over €180 million annually to provide additional supports to almost 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme which supports approximately 260,000 students.

The DEIS programme is targeted at schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. Schools that were included in the most recent expansion of 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.

The DEIS programme 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, extra resources must be targeted as closely as possible at those students with the greatest level of need.

As Minister, I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage. A new DEIS Plan will be published in 2025. This plan will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children at risk of educational disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to tackling educational disadvantage, and working towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time.

A key part of my plan will be the development of a DEIS Plus scheme to support primary and post-primary schools with the highest levels of disadvantage. I will engage with key stakeholders in the development of this work.