312. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will review the decision to exclude many Limerick primary schools situated in disadvantaged areas from DEIS Plus status; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33943/26]

Addressing educational disadvantage and ensuring that every child and young person can reach their full potential is a key priority the Minister for Education and Youth and for the Government. The new DEIS Plus scheme, which will commence this year, launched as part of the DEIS Strategy to 2035, represents the most significant expansion of targeted supports since the establishment of DEIS. DEIS Plus is designed to provide enhanced, evidence-based supports to a cohort of 121 schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage, identified through a refined data-based model that draws on a range of indicators associated with persistent and intergenerational disadvantage.

This approach ensures that additional resources are directed where they can have the greatest impact, and forms a core element of the wider €48 million full-year investment across both the DEIS Strategy and the DEIS Plus scheme. Approximately 30,000 children and young people attending DEIS Plus schools will benefit from these targeted supports.

Schools in the DEIS Plus scheme will receive strengthened, research-informed supports across wellbeing, attendance, engagement, guidance, leadership capacity, community partnerships and access to services, including the introduction of a new positive mental health and wellbeing initiative to support a whole-school approach to student wellbeing. This targeted enhancement of supports will not result in any dilution of resources for schools that do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the scheme.

It is important to stress that a school not identified through the DEIS Plus model does not in any way imply that the department is saying that disadvantage does not exist within that school community. DEIS Plus schools were identified using a refined, rules-based model built on nationally available pupil-level administrative data. The model draws on a range of indicators associated with persistent and intergenerational disadvantage, including small-area deprivation, lone parenthood and unemployment, Traveller and Roma identity, and children living in State-funded emergency accommodation or international protection accommodation. These indicators are applied consistently across all schools using enrolment data from the past three years.

When the model was applied nationally, including across Limerick city and county, a number of schools in Limerick were identified for inclusion in the DEIS Plus scheme. Other schools in Limerick, while serving communities experiencing disadvantage, did not meet the threshold for inclusion when assessed against the same objective national criteria.

Schools not included in DEIS Plus continue to receive significant supports through the DEIS programme. Under the new DEIS Strategy, DEIS grant funding and home school community liaison (HSCL) provision were recalculated using the most up-to-date data on educational disadvantage. This resulted in increased grant funding and strengthened HSCL provision for a number of DEIS schools in Limerick city, ensuring enhanced supports for families and school communities.

It is possible for two neighbouring schools to have a different profile in terms of proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the relative weighting of disadvantage apportioned in each. The designation of neighbouring schools to different DEIS status does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in one school, but that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage of the two schools is different.

The 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 that were not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS Plus identification model to their school enrolment data have the opportunity to have that outcome reviewed. The appeal process is now open until 25 May. Schools have the opportunity to update their school enrolment data for the years 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 on POD and PPOD, 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 is reviewed.

The 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 that were not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS Plus identification model to their school enrolment data may appeal that outcome.

Information on the appeal process can be found on the department's website: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-education/circulars/deis-plus-scheme-appeal-process/.