Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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225. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount budgeted for DEIS schools last year but not spent. [54174/25]

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. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all schools, such as the introduction of free schoolbooks 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. This funding includes the provision of enhanced teaching allocation in DEIS Band 1 primary schools, 528 HSCL coordinator posts assigned to DEIS schools and an allocation of some €36 million to the School Completion Programme. All DEIS schools are also paid an annual DEIS Grant.

Further information on the supports provided under the DEIS programme is available at the following link:

DEIS Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools

In relation to the current school year, the total DEIS Grant paid to post-primary schools is €5,615,813 and the total DEIS Grant paid to primary schools is €15,966,383. DEIS Grants for the 2025/26 school year issued to schools in June 2025.