Educational Disadvantage
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-29
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Hildegarde Naughton (FG), Galway West

The model nationally did not overlook Limerick. A number of schools across Limerick city and county have been identified for inclusion in DEIS plus based on the same objective criteria. With regard to the appeals process, schools have until 25 May to submit an appeal to the Department for review and they also have the opportunity to update their enrolment data for the years 2023 to 2424, 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 on the Department's POD and P-POD where they identify that the information already provided is not an accurate reflection of their school enrolment for those years.
Schools may also request that the application of the model to their existing data be reviewed. That review process will be overseen by an independent appeals board, the members of which are not part of the initial design and implementation of the DEIS plus identification model. When all of the appeals have been processed, the schools will be informed in writing.
The data is as good as that on the P-POD and POD but as part of the model, we are looking at unemployment levels and Traveller and Roma identity within these areas. It is based on the Pobal index as well. There will be as periodic reviews of this. My Department is working with the CSO and the ESRI around refining the data. As demographics and data change over the years, this will need to be reviewed as well. Schools will be reassessed periodically as the data sources and techniques are updated and advanced and as demographics change. The identification of schools for inclusion in DEIS plus does consider the presence of that persistent disadvantage but I would advise those schools to appeal as well.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-29