Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1296. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of DEIS primary and post primary schools currently in the State, in tabular form. [44212/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The complete list of all DEIS schools in the state is available at the following link

The number of DEIS primary and post-primary schools currently in the State is as follows:

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1297. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an additional school completion project to cover the remaining DEIS schools without one, in tabular form. [44213/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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 School Completion Programme (SCP) is one of the keys supports under the DEIS programme and comprises of 121 projects nationwide, supporting just under 800 schools, arranged in clusters. Access to the SCP is available to all DEIS post-primary, DEIS Urban Band 1 and DEIS Urban Band 2 primary schools.

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.

Schools 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. Urban primary schools having the very highest levels of disadvantage are classified as DEIS Urban Band 1.

Research published by the Educational Research Centre in 2013 The Achievements and Characteristics of Pupils Attending Rural Schools Participating in DEIS has shown that educational outcomes for pupils in DEIS rural schools are more positive than outcomes for pupils in DEIS urban schools. DEIS rural primary schools performed on a par with urban non DEIS schools in testing under the National Assessment of Mathematics and English Reading (NAMER).

474 Rural DEIS schools do not currently have access to the SCP, however the DEIS programme and associated allocation model does provide additional resources to primary schools classified as DEIS rural schools, albeit at a lower level.

SCP projects generally comprise of one SCP coordinator and a number of project workers and sessional workers, based on the number of schools in the cluster it serves, and on the identified needs of the children and young people supported by the project.

The average cost of an SCP coordinator is approx. €62,586 per annum and the average cost of a SCP Project Worker is approx. €48,022 per annum.

Other costs associated with a project include costs relating to the geographical spread of the schools in the cluster, the cost of sessional workers, training costs and other operational costs associated with the various interventions managed through the project.

As Minister, I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage in all schools. A new DEIS Plan will be published before the end of 2025.

Any future expansion of the SCP, and overall allocation of resources to schools to tackle educational disadvantage, will be considered within the context of the DEIS plan and the availability of resources.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1298. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an additional guidance counsellor in a DEIS post primary school. [44214/25]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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1299. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an additional guidance counsellor in a post primary school. [44215/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1298 and 1299 together.

My Department has committed considerable resources towards the restoration of guidance counselling hours to post-primary schools, to the provision of CPD for guidance counsellors and to the provision of a national guidance counselling supervision service for post-primary guidance counsellors in recent times.

The guidance allocation is provided separately and transparently on each school's staffing schedule. These posts have been ring-fenced so they can only be used for guidance activities and to meet the guidance needs of the school. There are currently 950 whole time equivalent teaching posts (WTEs) allocated in the current school year in respect of Guidance provision in our second-level schools.

The estimated full-year cost of a post-primary teacher (guidance counsellor) on average is €78,490 per annum. This includes provision for related substitution costs and employer PRSI.