'Schools in west Donegal must be added to DEIS scheme'

Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, primary schools in Rann na Feirste, Gort a Choirce and Mín Tineadh Dé should never have been taken out of the DEIS scheme as they are located in areas of deprivation, a leading Sinn Féin representative said this week. 

Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Pearse Doherty said that these should not have lost their status in 2017 as the schools are located in an area of deprivation. 

Last week, the principle of Pobailscoil Ghaoth Dobhair called for the Gaeltacht-based school to be added to the newly added scheme saying that the school needs additional facitilities and teachers. Newly appointed principle Seoirse Ó Dochartaidh said two neighbouring schools are on the scheme and for Pobailscoil Ghaoth Dobhair to be added to the list.

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Teachta Doherty sought clarity from the minister in relation to the timeframe in which schools in Donegal would be made aware whether they would be allocated DEIS status under the newly expanded DEIS scheme. The Minister was unable to provide the timeframe for the announcements of the newly added schools saying the scheme would be operational by September.

Speaking in the Dáil, Teachta Doherty said: “In my own constituency and especially in west Donegal, I regularly engage with principals and boards of management of schools in the DEIS scheme. Despite being an area of deprivation by all accounts and statistics, the 2017 DEIS review excluded some primary and post-primary schools in my area that should not have been excluded.

“As part of the budget, the minister announced a 20% increase in the allocation of funding to extend the DEIS programme to further schools with the highest levels of disadvantage, and that is badly needed. Principals in secondary schools are saying they need to do workforce planning and look at what we are offering schools. They cannot be told in July or August whether they are in a DEIS category or not.""

"The question remains - when are the schools going to be notified? Is the Minister saying they will be notified on the eve of it becoming operational or are they going to be notified in August or perhaps July, June or April? Does she know when schools are going to be notified?" he said. 

“I have also been raising the issues of Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Scoil Rann Na Feirste, Scoil Naisiúnta Gort An Choirce and Scoil Naisiúnta Mhín Teineadh Dé since 2017 because they should never have been left out of the DEIS programme. They are in areas where the deprivation scores are level 10. The schools are rural and isolated in nature. We need to undo the wrong that was done at that time. These must be included in the expanded scheme now."

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