Educational Disadvantage
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-28
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Michael Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

I thank the Deputy for the question and the energy he has put into it. The DEIS programme has been hugely successful right across the country, both in urban and rural Ireland, to ensure that we are tackling disadvantage at its core. Retaining students within the education system is a huge priority for the Government. It is huge for Government policy and for my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and me as well. We are acutely aware of the challenges that exist. The DEIS programme has shown up the challenges. On a number of occasions, we have seen that schools which are practically on the same campuses and have pupils from the same socio-economic backgrounds are classified in different strands. The system to designate DEIS schools is completely automated. This has been looked at very carefully but, as we go into the new DEIS programme, I and the current and former Ministers, Deputies Naughton, McEntee and Foley, as well as Department officials, are acutely aware of this anomaly that is showing up within the system. One thing we need to do is to make sure that we are tackling disadvantage at its core and that we are not leaving anybody behind. Education is one of the great levellers and one of the great enablers. We want to ensure we get it right in the inner city and right across the country. The Deputy could no be more direct in the picture he paints of this issue. It is something the Department is giving serious consideration to in the context of the DEIS strategy, which we are committed to publishing in the coming months. We will certainly take on board what the Deputy has said in relation to it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-28