Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 February 2026
145. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the percentage of male students who dropped out of post-primary education or training after 16 years-of-age, for each of the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10783/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra146. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the percentage of female students who dropped out of post-primary education or training after 16 years-of-age, for each of the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10784/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 145 and 146 together.
Please see tables below for pupils who have dropped out of post-primary from 5th year on and the percentage of pupils who are subsequently enrolled in Further Education & Training.
Dropout rates for pupils in 5th year or beyond:
|
Year |
Male |
Female |
|
2020 |
2.97 |
1.16 |
|
2021 |
2.3 |
1.01 |
|
2022 |
3.2 |
1.63 |
|
2023 |
3.99 |
2.26 |
|
2024 |
3.3 |
0.87 |
Dropouts found in Further Education & Training by PPSN matching
|
Year |
% in FET |
|
2020 |
44.63 |
|
2021 |
47.8 |
|
2022 |
46.74 |
|
2023 |
44.9 |
|
2024 |
35.04 |
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. The DEIS programme is a key Government policy aimed at addressing concentrated educational disadvantage at school level.
Currently, the DEIS programme supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students, with an annual investment of over investment of over €180 million. Budget 2026 allocates an additional €16.5 million in 2026, rising to €48 million in 2027, to introduce the DEIS Plus scheme and support the implementation of the new DEIS Strategy.
The new DEIS Strategy will set out the Department of Education and Youth’s strategic vision, goals, and objectives to tackle educational disadvantage in all schools. The strategy has a focus on developing more innovative approaches to addressing educational disadvantage and working towards a more flexible system of support to ensure that all 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.
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 in the coming weeks.
