Budget 2026 outlined that a new DEIS plan would be published in late 2025. A key action in the plan will be the creation of a DEIS+ scheme, providing additional targeted resources to schools or students most at risk of educational disadvantage. I recently met with a principal of a DEIS school in Drogheda which is providing an incredibly supportive environment for local children to thrive in, despite the ongoing social and economic challenges in the area. For decades, St. Paul's National School has been at the heart of a community that has been forgotten by successive Governments. They have been watching and waiting for the Government to provide information on the long-awaited DEIS+ scheme and it was very disheartening for the school to tell me it is really worried about being forgotten once more. We have been told an extensive stakeholder engagement has taken place. We have had an OECD review. We have been told that implementing DEIS+ is a stated goal of this Government and that €48 million will be allocated next year. When will the DEIS+ scheme details be finalised? When will they be published? When will schools like St. Paul's and others, for which the evidence supports their inclusion, be offered the assurances they are long overdue?

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It is.

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I said that the community has been ignored.

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