Michael D. Higgins
Ceist:400 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will grant disadvantaged status to St. Joseph's national school, Corville Roscrea, County Tipperary. [24522/99]
Written Answers. - Disadvantaged Status.
The last general expansion of the disadvantaged areas scheme at primary level took place in 1994. The school referred to by the Deputy applied for inclusion in the scheme but did not rank sufficiently high in terms of priority of need to secure inclusion on that occasion.
A subsequent study of educational disadvantage conducted by the Combat Poverty Agency and the Education Research Centre in 1996 concluded that disadvantaged status should be confined to 16 per cent of the school-going population. This study noted that such status had already been granted to 17 per cent of pupils. As an alternative to extending the disadvantaged areas scheme to additional schools, the study recommended that available resources should be targeted at schools with the greatest concentration of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In keeping with the study's recommendations, resources which subsequently became available were targeted on schools selected to participate in the breaking the cycle of disadvantage scheme which was introduced to deliver the sort of targeted support recommended in the study.
I can assure the Deputy that the needs of the school to which he refers will be fully considered in the event of any additional initiatives being taken to address educational disadvantage.