I propose to take Questions Nos. 454, 455 and 465 together.
The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all schools, such as free schoolbooks and free hot school meals at primary schools. Schools also have access other universal supports such as wellbeing supports for students through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), additional teaching hours under the English as an Additional Language (EAL) scheme and advisory support from the Department’s Inspectorate.
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 €16.5 million in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027, to support the implementation of the new DEIS Strategy and introduce the DEIS Plus scheme, which will commence in 2026.
The new DEIS Strategy will include a focus on developing more innovative approaches to addressing educational disadvantage in all schools and working towards a more flexible system of support to ensure that a school 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.
Schools that were included in the most recent expansion of the programme in 2022 were those with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage as identified through the refined DEIS identification model. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model was applied fairly and equally to all schools. Information on how schools were identified for inclusion in the DEIS programme to date can be found here: assets.gov.ie/static/documents/the-refined-deis-identification-model.pdf
Any future expansion of the DEIS programme, and overall allocation of resources, will be determined within the context of the new DEIS Strategy, which will be published early in 2026.
