School Funding
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Frankie Feighan (FG), Sligo-Leitrim

The DEIS plus scheme has a clear specific purpose, which is to target a relatively small number of schools with the very highest concentrations of children and young people who are experiencing persistent and intergenerational disadvantage. As the Deputy knows, it uses an evidence-based identification model. Applying this model fairly means that not every school serving a disadvantaged community can be included at this time. We have all been in this situation over the years. I would have questioned why some schools were not included even in the DEIS programme. I found that difficult to understand, but the new system seems to be very transparent and open. As the Deputy rightly stated, this does not diminish the very real challenges faced by St. Patrick's junior and senior national schools. Both schools serve disadvantaged school communities and continue to benefit from the enhanced support from the DEIS programme. This reflects the need of the supports needed in those communities.
Through the DEIS strategy to 2035, the Department of Education and Youth remains committed to continue reviewing how educational disadvantage is identified and addressed in order to ensure that supports are targeted in a fair, consistent and evidence-based way, which is what we all want. The appeals window will open in the coming weeks and schools will be given the opportunity to update their school enrolment data and whatever other data is there.
I encourage the schools to do that as quickly as possible. I want to show the Deputy that supporting children and young people in Corduff to enable them to reach their full potential through education remains an ongoing commitment, not just on the part of the Government but also on that of their parents, teachers and community. I thank her again for raising this very important issue.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15