Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 February 2021
410. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Education if her Department will carry out a review of a school (details supplied) to ascertain if DEIS status can be given to the school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6538/21]
View answer440. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Education her plans to consider admitting new schools to DEIS status based on the new model developed by her Department; if so, when same will be scheduled; and if her attention has been drawn to the anomalous exclusion of a school (details supplied) from the scheme. [6872/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 410 and 440 together.
My Department is in the final stages of refinement of the new DEIS identification model, based on school enrolment data and the latest data available from Census 2016 using the HP Deprivation Index. A detailed analysis of the data has been carried out by members of the DEIS Technical Group which contains representatives of the Department’s Statistics and Social Inclusion Units, the Inspectorate and the Educational Research Centre. The work of this group is at an advanced stage and a consultation process with education stakeholder representatives on the technical aspect and implementation of this model has commenced. It is envisaged that this will then provide the basis for development of a DEIS resource allocation system to match resources to identified need.
I am confident that the culmination of this work will facilitate the ultimate aim of matching resources to identified need and will allow us to target extra resources at those schools most in need. Until this work is complete, it is not intended to extend the DEIS programme to any further schools.
