Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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253. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the amount of money allocated to the DEIS + programme; the amount which will be allocated to primary education; the amount which will be allocated for secondary education. [62317/25]

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. 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 commencing in 2026.

The DEIS Plus scheme will provide additional support to schools with the highest levels of need, in line with the Government’s commitment. It will target a cohort of schools with high concentrations of children and young people experiencing intergenerational disadvantage where there is a significant gap in outcomes and there are barriers to those children and young people achieving their potential.

The details of the DEIS Plus scheme, including the allocation of resources, are currently being finalised within an overall programme of work to tackle educational disadvantage and will be outlined in the new DEIS Strategy, which will be published before the end of the year.