Written answers

Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Department of Education and Skills

Education Schemes

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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975. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated first- and full-year cost of expanding the home school community liaison scheme by 5%, up to a maximum of 40%, in DEIS urban band one schools. [40743/25]

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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976. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated first- and full-year cost of expanding the home school community liaison scheme by 5%, up to a maximum of 40%, in DEIS schools. [40744/25]

Photo of Helen McEnteeHelen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 975 and 976 together.

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. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all schools, such as the introduction of free school books and free hot school meals.

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

The Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) scheme is one of the key supports provided by my department as part of the overall DEIS programme. Tusla Education Support Service manage the HSCL scheme on behalf of my department. The scheme seeks to promote partnership between parents, teachers and community family support services, with a view to supporting improved attendance, participation and retention.

All DEIS urban primary schools and all DEIS post-primary schools are included in the HSCL scheme, which currently serves 687 DEIS schools, catering for approximately 207,000 children and young people. The scheme is delivered by 528 full-time HSCL coordinators, who are teachers in these schools and assigned to HSCL duties either in individual schools or in clusters of schools. Over €36 million is spent annually on the pay costs of Home School Community Liaison coordinators in urban primary and post-primary DEIS schools.

In addition to the above, a pilot project to support Traveller and Roma pupils, under the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, is in operation in 4 locations with 1 HSCL coordinator assigned in each location. A further 10 HSCL Coordinators support attendance, participation and retention among Traveller and Roma students, across 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools.

For DEIS schools included in the HSCL scheme it is a requirement that at least 10% of the annual DEIS grant to each school should be allocated for use on HSCL activities and made available to the HSCL coordinator.

The total DEIS Grant paid to post-primary schools for the 2024-2025 school year was €5,615,813 and the total DEIS Grant paid to primary schools was €15,966,383. DEIS Grants for the upcoming school year 2025/2026 will issue to schools in the coming weeks.

As Minister, I have committed to the publication of a new DEIS Plan later in 2025, and any expansion to the role of the HSCL coordinator will be examined in the context of the new plan. 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.

The information on the DEIS grant requested by the Deputy is contained in the following table.

DEIS Grant Total Grant Paid to School 10% HSCL 5% Increase 40% Increase
Urban Primary €12,317,150 €1,231,715 €1,293,300.70 €1,724,401
Rural Primary €3,649,233 N/A N/A N/A
Post-primary €5,615,813 €561,581.30 €589,660.36 €786,213.82

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