Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 November 2022
117. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education the total funding that has been provided for the DEIS Programme in 2022; the projected drawdown on this funding at end year; the total funding provided for this Programme in 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58365/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraDEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of the Department of Education to address educational disadvantage at school level.
The DEIS Plan, published in 2017, sets out the vision for future interventions in the critical area of educational disadvantage policy and builds on what has already been achieved by schools who have benefitted from the additional supports available since the introduction of the DEIS programme in 2005.
Funding for the DEIS programme in 2021 was over €150 million. Budget 2022 provided for an allocation of €18million for 2022 and €32million for 2023 to extend the DEIS programme to further schools with the highest levels of disadvantage.
In March 2022 an expansion of the DEIS programme was announced which provided for the inclusion of 322 additional schools in the DEIS programme from September 2022. This means that the DEIS programme now supports over 240,000 students in over 1,200 schools. This represented an increase of over 20% in funding for the DEIS programme.
My Department will spend in the region of €170 million in 2022 on providing supports to DEIS schools and this funding will increase to over €180m in 2023.
In addition I secured in Budget 2023, €8 million to address the impacts of COVID-19 and increase retention rates of students in schools, especially those from groups at risk of educational disadvantage. This will include a 5% increase in the funding for the School Completion Programme.
I am very conscious of the benefit of the DEIS programme. Analysis has shown that since the programme began in 2006, it has had considerable impact in our schools and helped to close the gap in achievement between DEIS and non-DEIS schools.
