Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 May 2026
176. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Youth the avenues now available to Drogheda schools who were excluded from the DEIS plus scheme to pursue this designation (details supplied). [40626/26]
View answerAddressing educational disadvantage and ensuring that every child and young person can reach their full potential is a key priority for the Minister for Education and Youth and for the Government. The new DEIS Plus scheme, which will commence this year and was launched as part of the DEIS Strategy to 2035, represents the most significant expansion of targeted supports since the establishment of DEIS. DEIS Plus is designed to provide enhanced, evidence-based supports to a cohort of 121 schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage, identified through a refined data-based model that draws on a range of indicators associated with persistent and intergenerational disadvantage.
This approach ensures that additional resources are directed where they can have the greatest impact and forms a core element of the wider €48 million full-year investment across both the DEIS Strategy and the DEIS Plus scheme. Approximately 30,000 children and young people attending DEIS Plus schools will benefit from these targeted supports.
The DEIS Strategy to 2035 also acknowledges that students at risk of educational disadvantage are present in all schools. It therefore focuses on improving outcomes, encouraging innovation and ensuring schools can access the right supports when needed.
As part of the DEIS Plus identification process, the DEIS Plus identification model was applied nationally to DEIS Urban Band 1 primary schools and DEIS post-primary schools. Using this model, schools were identified for inclusion in the DEIS Plus scheme through an objective and data-based approach that applies nationally available indicators consistently across all schools. The identification model is underpinned by a range of administrative data on every child and young person enrolled in primary and post-primary school.
The department recognises that some schools are operating in the context of complex local pressures within their wider communities. While these challenges are often well understood locally, they are not always captured in datasets that can be fairly and consistently applied across the entire school system. A rules-based national model must consider all schools on the same basis; it cannot substitute locally held knowledge for data that are not available or comparable nationwide.
Schools that were not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS Plus identification model to their school enrolment data had the opportunity to have that outcome reviewed through the formal appeals process. Schools had the opportunity to update their school enrolment data for the years 2023/2024, 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 on POD and PPOD where they identified that the information already provided was not an accurate reflection of their school enrolment for those years. Schools also had the opportunity to request that the application of the model to their existing data be reviewed.
The appeal process did not provide for the submission of additional contextual information outside of the nationally available data sources used in the model. There is no separate alternative process for the submission of additional contextual information outside of the established DEIS Plus appeal process. The DEIS Plus identification and appeal processes were designed to operate on the basis of nationally available and consistently applied data sources in order to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools.
My department will continue to monitor and evaluation the implementation and impact of the DEIS Plus scheme, DEIS Strategy to 2035 and associated initiatives. Any future allocation of resources will be considered over the lifetime of the DEIS Strategy to 2035 and in the context of available resources.
