Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 March 2026
106. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Education and Youth to provide a breakdown of schools that were successful in the Anseo attendance programme; if a geographic spread was achieved; and if the Pobal deprivation index was used in the selection of successful schools. [22679/26]
View answerTusla Education Support Service (TESS) is under the remit of my department and operates under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000, a piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of school attendance, participation and retention. TESS has three strands, namely the statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) scheme and the School Completion Programme (SCP). The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, parents and guardians and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people.
In May 2025 a range of measures was announced to tackle school absenteeism, including 'Anseo', an actionable attendance tool for schools and an evidence-based approach to improving school attendance. Using a three-tiered model, schools can identify patterns of absenteeism at the student, class and whole school level and develop nuanced and timely responses to drivers of school absenteeism within each tier. Using the model will enable school leadership to use school level attendance data to understand the shape of the school's attendance patterns and to plan appropriate interventions for all students.
A dedicated ‘Anseo’ team has been established in TESS to support the roll out of the model.
Following a successful pilot of the model in 4 schools during the 2023/24 school year, my department in collaboration with TESS, is implementing a phased national roll out of ‘Anseo’ with the support of the ‘Anseo’ team. Sixty-two schools are participating in the current phase with a further roll out to an additional 151 schools by the end of the 2025/26 school year.
In line with expressions of interest to participate in Anseo, received from schools in May 2025, a representation of schools from every county was selected, with a spilt of 60% DEIS schools and 40% non DEIS schools. The Pobal deprivation index was not used to select the schools.
