The ERC welcomes the announcement of the expansion of DEIS at primary and post-primary levels. The ERC has been working with the Department of Education for many years on the monitoring and evaluation of DEIS and has supported work on the revised DEIS identification model.

The revised DEIS identification system is possible as there have been considerable developments in recent years in the data available to the Department of Education through the primary and post-primary online databases (POD and P-POD). Data from POD and P-POD are combined with the Pobal HP Deprivation Index to determine schools’ levels of concentrated disadvantage which in turn determines eligibility for DEIS. The application of the HP index represents a considerable improvement over the original survey-based measures and the ERC welcomes these developments.

We look forward to continued collaboration with the DoE on this work.

For further information, see https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/71054-minister-foley-announces-32-million-major-expansion-of-the-deis-programme-incorporating-310-new-schools/