Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to realise their full potential in life is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth, and for the Government. Currently, the DEIS programme supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students, with an annual investment of over €180 million. Budget 2026 allocates an additional €16 million in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027, to support the implementation of the new DEIS plan and to introduce the DEIS Plus scheme commencing in 2026.
The new DEIS plan is focused on developing more innovative approaches to addressing educational disadvantage and working towards a more flexible system of support to ensure that schools can receive the right support at the right time. This will involve a more dynamic resource allocation model where levels of resources more accurately follow the levels of need identified by objective data.
The Department of Education and Youth is actively engaging with other Government departments and agencies, education partners, and stakeholders across the education sector to develop the DEIS Plus scheme with the aim of integrating and building on existing whole-of-government supports.
The DEIS Plus scheme will provide additional support to schools with the highest levels of need, in line with the Government’s commitment. It will target a small cohort of schools with high concentrations of children and young people experiencing intergenerational disadvantage where there is a significant gap in outcomes and there are barriers to those children and young people achieving their potential.
The details of the DEIS Plus scheme are currently being finalised and will be outlined in the new DEIS plan, which will be published before the end of the year.
