Helen Keogh
Ceist:163 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Education if she has given consideration to according St. John's national school, Ballybrack, County Dublin, disadvantaged status; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Ballybrack (County Dublin) National School.
I am aware that the school in question has applied for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas scheme.
The procedures for selecting schools for inclusion in the scheme are based on a range of socio-economic criteria agreed by a working party comprised of representatives of my Department, the INTO and schools management.
The factors taken into account include the incidence of unemployment, local authority housing and medical card holders among the parents of the children concerned. Account is also taken of the views of my Department's inspectorate on the relative levels of need between schools and the prevailing pupil teacher ratios.
At present under this scheme a total of 258 primary schools have the services of 275 additional ex-quota teaching posts. The schools in question also receive supplementary capitation grants at the rate of £17 per pupil.
As I announced to the House last year, I allocated an additional 68 ex-quota teaching posts to the disadvantaged areas scheme with effect from September 1993. As part of this arrangement, an additional 50 schools were newly included in the scheme.
All national schools were circularised at the time and invited to apply for inclusion in this allocation. On the basis of information submitted, schools were assessed and prioritised in order of need. Quite a number of the schools under consideration had up to 80 per cent to 90 per cent levels of unemployment among the parents of their pupils.
The application submitted by the school referred to by the Deputy was among those considered in this context. However, the school did not rate high enough on the priority list for inclusion in the scheme on this occasion.
It is my intention to allocate additional resources to the disadvantaged scheme again this year to facilitate further expansion of this scheme. The case for the school mentioned by the Deputy will be fully considered in this context.