Paul Donnelly: Calls to Revisit Deis Plus Allocations
Paul Donnelly challenged the Government in the Dáil over the allocation of the new Dash Plus programme and asked for a review where local schools were excluded. He raised concerns after meeting the management committee of Blakestown Community School and other schools in Dublin 15 who say they were left baffled by the selections.
Paul Donnelly told the Dáil that many local schools working with the most vulnerable children have seen no funding increases in years and face effective cuts.
Donnelly asked whether the selection process had become a box-ticking exercise and urged the Minister to commit to revisiting allocations, stressing that communities across the state are puzzled by who was and was not selected for enhanced support.
The Minister defended Deis Plus as a new, historic programme targeted at the most disadvantaged, noting numbers of schools and additional roles being provided. Donnelly’s address highlights the tension between national rollout and individual community experiences and calls for further review and advocacy on behalf of excluded schools.
Dáil intervention on Deis Plus
Paul Donnelly told the Dáil that many local schools working with the most vulnerable children have seen no funding increases in years and face effective cuts.
Selection concerns and local impact
Donnelly asked whether the selection process had become a box-ticking exercise and urged the Minister to commit to revisiting allocations, stressing that communities across the state are puzzled by who was and was not selected for enhanced support.
Government response and programme detail
The Minister defended Deis Plus as a new, historic programme targeted at the most disadvantaged, noting numbers of schools and additional roles being provided. Donnelly’s address highlights the tension between national rollout and individual community experiences and calls for further review and advocacy on behalf of excluded schools.
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Transkrypcja
Many of us will be at the 1916 Easter commemorations honouring those who fought and died for Irish freedom. The proclamation talks about cherishing the children of the nation equally. Just last week I met the local management committee of the school completion in Blakestown Community School. Like all school completions, they work with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in their communities. They have not had an increase in funding in years, with larger numbers of students with effective cuts every year. Yesterday, the Government announced the Dash Plus scheme, a new set of additional plans and funding for schools in very disadvantaged communities. Feedback we have gotten from schools is one of utter shock and dismay. One school has been selected for Dash Plus for the entire Dublin 15 area. Rathdara is a post-primary school that is a stone's throw away from the only primary school that was selected, Lady's Well National School, and it's not on the list. Blakestown Community School and School Wear, both Dash schools did not make it. Minister, just a question, was it a box-ticking exercise to claim you were doing something for disadvantaged students? If it's not, will the Minister commit to revisiting the allocation? Because at the end of the day, it's not just Dublin 15, there are communities all over who are absolutely baffled as to how they were not selected for Dash Plus. You can always have, as any local TD, a view that their constituency should or should not receive additional things. But hang on a second, you raised a very emotive language of is this a box-ticking exercise. Can we be very clear that, as of yesterday, for the very first time in the history of this state, we now have a Dash Plus programme. A programme that I must say, I don't usually do this, but I remember Eoghan O'Riordan in this house looking for this when he was here, the now Labour MEP for Dublin. This is something that's been called for across this house for a long time. Minister McEntee worked on it, Minister Nocton worked on it, we've delivered it now, this government has yesterday. And there's 121 schools that are going to get enhanced support, the most disadvantaged of the disadvantaged, factually. 96 primary schools, 25 post-primary schools. And this is a start, it's an important start. It will make a real difference in terms of tackling educational disadvantage. More than 400 additional roles, 350 extra teaching posts, benefiting 700 schools nationwide, expansion of homeschool liaison programme to 130 additional schools. So please continue to advocate for more schools in your community, but don't be just so populist or Sinn Fein opposing for the sake of opposing. This is a really positive development, a really positive development. 121 schools, 700 overall benefiting, 121 getting enhanced support. It's not box-ticking, Deputy Donnelly, it's transformational. The criteria is very clear, and don't try to taint a programme that has so much scientific support behind it in terms of educational advantage.