Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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741. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if all of the €48 million Deis plus allocation in Budget 2026 will be paid directly to schools rather than to agencies; if she will ensure that the schools receive these funds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58622/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. The Minister for Education and Youth is determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage.

Currently, the DEIS programme supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students with an annual investment of over €180 million. Budget 2026 allocates an additional €16 million in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027, to support the implementation of the new DEIS Strategy and to introduce the DEIS plus scheme.

The DEIS plus scheme will provide additional support to schools with the highest levels of need, in line with Government's commitment. The details of the DEIS plus scheme are currently being finalised within an overall programme of work to tackle educational disadvantage and will be outlined in the new DEIS Strategy.

Any future expansion of the programme and the allocation of funding will be determined as part of the new DEIS Strategy, which will be published at the end of the year.