2026-01-28

Ó toghadh chun an Tí seo mé, bím i gcónaí ag caint faoi oideachas, go háirithe oideachas i mBaile Átha Cliath thuaidh. Mar is eol don Aire Stáit, bím i gcónaí ag labhairt faoi Stapolin Educate Together National School, ETNS, Gaelcholáiste Reachrainn agus Killester Raheny Clontarf, KRC, ETNS. Troidim ar son na scoileanna sin. I am always fighting for education and today I want to raise another school, which is St. Joseph's primary school. This is a small senior boys school which has been failed by how our DEIS and disadvantage supports are being applied. The school has 115 pupils. It has one of the most disadvantaged catchment areas in Dublin's north inner city but it is still classified as DEIS 2 rather than DEIS 1. I have sent representations to the Department because it needs significant supports but it is not getting them. I have been speaking to the principal, who is working tirelessly. He has told me that more than 20% of the pupils are in IPAS or emergency accommodation. These include children in international protection, children from Ukraine, children in emergency accommodation and children living in homelessness. Approximately 25% of the pupils live in the north inner city, an area which is designated as having concentrated disadvantage. The Minister of State is aware of this and we have had discussions on it. Despite this, the school is excluded from North East Inner City Initiative, NEIC, supports and City Connects supports. What makes the situation even worse is that on the same grounds as the school is on there is a secondary school which receives City Connects supports and which has benefited from NEIC funding. Children from the same families, living in the same homes and often facing the same difficulties walk into one building that receives supports and another building that does not. This is the reality. St. Joseph's is also a continuation school for three DEIS 1 primary schools. These are St. Mary's primary school, which is beside it, St. Vincent's infant boys school in the Ballybough and Summerhill area, and St. Laurence O'Toole's school on Sheriff Street. These are all DEIS 1 schools. In practice what is happening is that boys attend one of these schools until first class. A boy could be going to one of these schools with his twin sister. At the age of eight he is transferred to St. Joseph's, which is an all-boys school, and he loses the DEIS 1 supports that his sister is still getting. He is losing the DEIS 1 supports. His younger brothers in the junior school are getting the DEIS 1 supports but the boys who transfer to the more senior school are not. The principal, whom I spoke to today, estimates that fewer than ten pupils of the 160 come from non-DEIS backgrounds. From speaking to Tiarnán Crowe, the principal, and Richie Walsh, the ex-principal and father of Mikey Walsh, I found their passion for education is exemplary. This issue needs to be investigated urgently. The school's intake is huge and it has already been recognised as experiencing high levels of educational disadvantage. Even yesterday, we were speaking about mental health, and we are always speaking about trying to bring up young men. In this case, support for young men from a disadvantaged area is being removed at a critical time in their development. If we are serious about prevention, this is exactly the stage at which we should be strengthening their support. St. Joseph's, the senior school from second class upward, also has an historical junior autism class, but then there is no junior mainstream class in the school for those children to integrate with. This is acknowledged by the Department in emails to me and it is acknowledged by the NCSE as being contrary to the best model it has, yet the school is still being told there is no immediate solution. As a result, the children remain in an unsuitable structure and a small school. The staff in St. Joseph's are exemplary and I urge that this be examined by the Department. I thank the Minister of State for his engagement so far.

It is like being in a meeting in Cork North-West. I am delighted to see how professional an operation it is. I am delighted to be serving with the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach as well. Deputy Heneghan raised the issue in relation to disadvantage in the north-east inner city. I thank the Deputy for his engagement on education matters in the role that I hold at the moment. I urge all Deputies and all public representatives to continue engaging on education because it is hugely important for the future of our country. Education has served Ireland very well over the last decades and beyond and we need to ensure that we are really up to speed with it. The DEIS programme supports 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students with an annual investment of €180 million. The DEIS programme is targeted at schools with the highest level of concentrated disadvantage, with the DEIS urban band 1 schools representing those with the highest concentration of students with the greatest level of need and therefore receiving the most intensive supports. Schools with DEIS urban band 2 supports also face significant need and receive a broad range of supports, including the reduced pupil-teacher ratio, additional school grants, access to the home-school community liaison scheme and the school completion programme, literacy and numeracy initiatives and targeted attendance and retention measures. It is possible for two neighbouring schools to have different profiles in terms of the 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. It means that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage of the two schools is different. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, is committed to narrowing the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introducing an innovative solution to address disadvantage. To this end, the new DEIS strategy to 2035 will be published in the coming months. This will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children at risk of education disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to tackling education disadvantage and working towards a more flexible system of support to ensure that a school can receive the right supports at the right time. Any future changes to the overall allocation of resources to schools under the DEIS programme will be considered within the context of the new DEIS strategy. In respect of the education provisions, the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, works with schools to ensure pupils in special classes receive an appropriate education, with teachers, SNAs and inclusion supports. In relation to support provided in the north-east inner city project, it should be noted that in order to be classified as a north-east inner city primary school, the primary school must be a DEIS urban band 1 school located within the north-east inner city boundaries. St. Joseph's Primary School in Fairview is not located within the boundaries and does not have the DEIS urban band 1 status. Ten primary schools located within the north-east inner city with DEIS band 1 status, in addition to having the high percentage of pupils enrolled within the north-east inner city, are classified as such schools. It is important to recognise the challenges outlined by the Deputy and to compliment the team working there. I have no doubt that they are doing extraordinary work, particularly in relation to the challenges the Deputy outlined. We will be publishing the new DEIS strategy in the coming months but issues like that will have to be fed into that process as well.

I really appreciate the work and I also appreciate the work with Stapolin and everything else in the area, with the Killester, Raheny, Clontarf, KRC, secondary school campaign and Gaelcholáiste Reachrann. In the Minister of State's words, the designation of neighbouring schools as having different DEIS status does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in one school. It means that the concentrated levels of educational disadvantage of the two schools are different. From speaking to the Minister and visiting the school, I can see that is not the case. It is the same pupils going through the school and then going to the secondary school. It is in that period between age eight and when they get to secondary school that they are being removed from these supports that we put in place for children in disadvantaged areas. I urge the Minister of State to get the Department to examine this school. I do not know how it slipped through the cracks. I acknowledge the work the Minister of State has done and the work of the constituency TD, Deputy Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats, who represents the children attending this school. The children remain in an unsuitable structure. As I have said, the staff in St. Joseph's are excellent but they are going beyond. They are stretched and they are missing that funding. I am asking for an urgent review of St. Joseph's current DEIS status. It makes no sense that the status has been removed for that period for young men, especially with the struggles of life at this time. I also ask for immediate inclusion in the NEIC and City Connect supports as the sisters of children in this school, who are attending a school beside it, in the same catchment and the same area, are getting these supports. It makes no sense that the Department is saying this. I ask for a concrete timeline and solution for appropriate placement in the junior autism class. I appreciate the work the Minister of State has done and his visits to schools in north Dublin. I have seen first-hand the work he has done but I ask him to visit this school to see the current situation. I think it slipped through the cracks of the Department and I urge that it be examined. I am asking the Department not only for a review, but for a clear timeline for the DEIS reclassification. Young men should not have supports removed at such a critical time in their development.

I thank the Deputy for the question and the energy he has put into it. The DEIS programme has been hugely successful right across the country, both in urban and rural Ireland, to ensure that we are tackling disadvantage at its core. Retaining students within the education system is a huge priority for the Government. It is huge for Government policy and for my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, and me as well. We are acutely aware of the challenges that exist. The DEIS programme has shown up the challenges. On a number of occasions, we have seen that schools which are practically on the same campuses and have pupils from the same socio-economic backgrounds are classified in different strands. The system to designate DEIS schools is completely automated. This has been looked at very carefully but, as we go into the new DEIS programme, I and the current and former Ministers, Deputies Naughton, McEntee and Foley, as well as Department officials, are acutely aware of this anomaly that is showing up within the system. One thing we need to do is to make sure that we are tackling disadvantage at its core and that we are not leaving anybody behind. Education is one of the great levellers and one of the great enablers. We want to ensure we get it right in the inner city and right across the country. The Deputy could no be more direct in the picture he paints of this issue. It is something the Department is giving serious consideration to in the context of the DEIS strategy, which we are committed to publishing in the coming months. We will certainly take on board what the Deputy has said in relation to it.