Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 March 2026
78. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Education and Youth the way in which schools will be included in advocating for their own inclusion in the new DEIS+ designation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22508/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI was pleased today to launch the DEIS Strategy to 2035, including the DEIS Plus scheme. This achieves the Programme for Government commitment to introduce a scheme of additional support for schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage.
The DEIS Plus scheme recognises that while potential and talent is present in all children, they do not all have an equal opportunity to develop and fulfil their potential. The scheme aims to empower children and young people impacted by intergenerational poverty and disadvantage to succeed in school and progress to fulfilling adult lives, creating positive impacts for future generations. It seeks to support children, families and schools to improve school attendance, promote participation in learning and social interaction, and support children and young people to complete post-primary education and achieve the Leaving Certificate.
The DEIS Plus scheme will provide a more targeted, coordinated and evidence-informed set of supports for 96 primary and 25 post-primary schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage.
Through the scheme my department is investing in the futures of the children and young people in these schools. This will include an additional 33 school leadership posts, 121 teacher posts, additional home-school-community liaison posts and guidance hours, including guidance in primary schools for the first time. It will also provide a €3m increase in DEIS grant funding and additional funding for youth services, breakfast clubs and opportunities for innovation.
The scheme will also maximise opportunities to establish links between government departments, agencies and industry and to better align the available range of cross-government supports with the needs identified in schools in the DEIS Plus scheme.
The DEIS Plus scheme is part of a €48million increase in supports under the overall DEIS programme, increasing annual DEIS budget to €228 million. This increase includes additionality for schools beyond the DEIS Plus scheme. Over 700 schools, both DEIS and non-DEIS, will gain resources aimed at a targeted response to addressing educational disadvantage in all schools under initial actions from the DEIS Strategy to 2035.
Schools included in the DEIS Plus scheme have been identified using an approach which is objective and data based. The methodology was developed by the DEIS Technical Group, which includes members from Pobal and the Education Research Centre, and members from the department’s Statistics Unit, IGEES team, Inspectorate and Social Inclusion Unit.
The DEIS identification model is underpinned by the Pobal HP Deprivation Index and school enrolment data provided by schools and held on the DEY Primary Online Database (POD) or the Post-Primary Online Database (PPOD). This data includes the child's home address. In addition to identify schools for inclusion in the DEIS Plus scheme a new DEIS Plus index was developed by the department’s Statistics Unit with the agreement of Pobal. The DEIS Plus index places greater weight on lone parenthood and unemployment, which have been widely identified as key factors in persistent and intergenerational disadvantage.
The methodology places a priority on children and young people living in very or extremely disadvantaged areas, Traveller and Roma students and students residing in State-funded homeless accommodation and International Protection Accommodation Centre (IPAS) or Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre (EROC). Another new element of the identification model for DEIS Plus is that schools enrolment data has been assessed over a three year period (2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26). This was done to identify those schools that are supporting children and young people experiencing persistent disadvantage.
My Department is committed to ensuring that all schools are treated equally and fairly in the manner in which they have been identified for inclusion in the DEIS Plus scheme. Schools who are not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS Plus identification model to their school enrolment data will have the opportunity to have that outcome reviewed. A circular with further details of the appeals process will issue to schools after Easter.
