Educational Disadvantage
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

We absolutely accept there need for objective criteria. That is not in doubt. The question is whether we have objective criteria that capture the reality beyond simply the geographical deprivation index. It is not entirely clear. I do not think a list of the criteria has been published - if a school is above this, it is in but if a school is below this, it is out. The school has appealed. There is a limit in the appeals process because the only basis on which the school could really appeal was to update the Primary Online Database about its pupils and then say it had done that. It obviously hopes that this is enough to put it over the line but there are flaws even there. If the school had pupils who were in it two years ago and who should be captured but who are now in a different school, it is not technically able to update their addresses because they are now registered elsewhere. Therefore, that is not being captured in the appeal and the school does not have a chance to put forward all these arguments. I think they have been submitted to the Minister of State in parliamentary questions in terms of the points about homeless hubs and IPAS so, hopefully, they can be taken into account.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10