128. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education and Youth the reason two schools (details supplied) with significant disadvantage have been excluded from the DEIS Plus scheme. [74955/26]

Addressing educational disadvantage and ensuring that every child and young person can reach their full potential is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth and for the Government. Overall, approximately €230 million is invested in the DEIS programme. This includes the additional €48 million secured under Budget 2026 to support the implementation of the DEIS Strategy to 2035 and the introduction of the DEIS Plus scheme. Budget 2027 provides a further €6 million to support the expansion of DEIS Plus.

Schools in the DEIS Plus scheme receive strengthened, research informed supports across wellbeing, attendance, engagement, guidance, leadership capacity, community partnerships and access to services, including a new positive mental health and wellbeing initiative to support a whole school approach to student wellbeing. This targeted enhancement of supports does 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 were applied consistently across all schools using enrolment data from the past three years.

The department also recognises that some schools are operating in the context of complex local pressures within their wider communities. While these challenges are often well understood locally, they are not always captured in datasets that can be fairly and consistently applied across the entire school system. A rules based national model must consider all schools on the same basis; it cannot substitute locally held knowledge for data that are not available or comparable nationwide.

Schools are advised of the importance of ensuring that their enrolment data as provided on the Primary Online Database (POD) is up to date and accurate as this information forms part of the evidence-based identification model that will be used to identify schools for future supports.