The Deputy will be aware that on the 6th May last, I announced the early payment of the €16 million DEIS grant for the 2020/21 school year.
The funding was paid ahead of schedule to all schools in the DEIS programme to help support students who are most at risk of educational disadvantage during the Covid-19 school closures.
There are currently 890 schools with more than 180,000 students in the DEIS programme.
In the event that there was an increase of 30% in the DEIS Grant, the annualised grant would be €21m approximately, based on the 2020/21 grants at Primary and Post-Primary level. Schools should use the DEIS grant to implement measures to support their targets in the various themes as set out under DEIS Plan.