90. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Education and Youth the reason a school (details supplied) has been excluded from DEIS and DEIS plus; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40726/26]

Sentiment score: -0.11

I have raised the unsustainable situation at Roxboro National School in Ballinrobe with the Minister's office numerous times since last November. I have visited the school, spoken with the management there and seen the urgent need for additional resources. That is why I was extremely disappointed to hear that the school had been excluded from the DEIS programme. I ask the Minister to explain to the school community why Roxboro National School has been excluded from DEIS and DEIS plus despite the obvious resource pressures that this particular school is facing.

Sentiment score: -0.27

I will outline to the Minister how Roxboro National School more than meets the criteria for DEIS status. It is a two-teacher rural primary school serving one of the most diverse and disadvantaged school populations in the country. The school currently has 35 pupils; 17 are from the Irish Traveller community and 18 are either in the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, system, refugees, homeless or living in emergency accommodation. Three children have moderate learning difficulties and 31 to 35 require daily special education teaching supports. Due to the diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds of the families within the school community, parent contribution funding is non-existent. There is no functioning parents association and the school is really struggling to maintain a board of management. This all adds to the strain on the already stretched and struggling teaching staff there. I acknowledge the Department's efforts thus far to assist the school. The school was told that it would be added to the HSCL scheme earlier this year. However, that will not even scratch the surface.

Sentiment score: -0.19

There is transition and integration funding that can be used for other purposes when we have extreme cases like this. The management feared that the inclusion on the scheme to which the Minister refers would lead to Roxboro's exclusion from DEIS. which has now come to pass despite every other school in its HSCL cluster having DEIS or DEIS plus status. The school management and I are really struggling to understand how a school like Roxboro, with such a significant and concentrated need, has been left out of the DEIS scheme. In a letter from her office to the school on 21 May, the Minister acknowledged the level of disadvantage experienced at Roxboro, yet the school is still excluded from DEIS. This is an exceptional school that needs help. I ask the Minister to outline a clear pathway for Roxboro to achieve DEIS status in the short rather than long term. In the long term, all of these children will be gone and they will have been failed by the system because we are not targeting the investment where it is needed.

Sentiment score: -0.08