Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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172. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria for determining which schools will be designated for the DEIS Plus plan; whether two significantly disadvantaged schools (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66398/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Tackling education disadvantage and helping students realise their full potential is a key priority for the Minister for Education and Youth. The DEIS programme is a key policy initiative to address 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 millions in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027, to support the implementation of the new DEIS Strategy and introduce the DEIS Plus scheme, which will commence 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 process to identify schools for inclusion in DEIS Plus will be evidence-informed, using available data. 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, which I intend to publish in early 2026. Any future expansion of the DEIS programme and inclusion in the DEIS Plus scheme will be considered with the context of the new DEIS Strategy and the availability of resources.