Vol. 473 No. 4
396 Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Education the proposals, if any, she has to include St. Mary's-On-The-Hill school and Gurranabraher national school, County Cork in the Breaking the Cycle initiative; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1777/97]
I have no proposals to include the schools in question in the Breaking the Cycle initiative. As I have previously indicated to the House, the criteria under which schools were selected for inclusion in this initiative and the selection process itself, were devised and carried out by the Education Research Centre following consideration of a range of indicators of educational disadvantage.
The data submitted by all applicant schools, including the schools in question, were taken fully into account by the Education Research Centre as part of its selection process. However, I am informed by the Education Research Centre that, based on the information provided, the schools in question did not qualify for inclusion in the scheme. My decision to give the Education Research Centre the responsibility of devising the criteria and selecting schools for inclusion in the initiative was taken in recognition of the complexity of the issues involved and the recognised expertise of the centre in this area.
