Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2012
189 Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the review of all disadvantaged schools; his views on the fact that disadvantage exists outside the larger cities; if he will ensure that DEIS band 1 schools in towns such as Clonmel, County Tipperary, will be given the same treatment as DEIS band 1 in the cities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4799/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraDEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and an integrated School Support Programme (SSP). Schools in the programme include both urban and rural primary schools and post-primary schools. Urban primary schools are categorised as serving areas with a population greater than 1,500, while the rural dimension serves areas with a population of less than 1,500. Primary schools in the town referred to by they Deputy are considered urban.
Measures under Budget 2012 relate to the withdrawal of certain posts under older disadvantage schemes that pre-date DEIS. Some urban primary schools have been adversely affected by these measures, as they retained teaching resources to implement more favourable class sizes from a number of previous disadvantaged schemes.
I announced in the House on 11th January that my Department is to report to me within four weeks on the impact of the withdrawal of posts under these older schemes on DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 primary schools only. The report will take account of the net effect of a range of factors on teacher allocations in these schools, for example increasing and decreasing enrolments and the reforms to the existing teacher allocations process, all of which will determine the staffing requirement for these schools for 2012/13 school year.
It is only when this report is made available to me that I will be in a position to make a decision on the final outcome for the individual schools involved and finalise and publish the staffing schedules for 2012/2013.
