Drogheda TD Ged Nash has demanded answers over the exclusion of all Drogheda schools from the new DEIS Plus programme, after the issue was highlighted nationally by RTÉ Prime Time.
Seven schools in neighbouring Dundalk were included in the scheme, while none in Drogheda were selected.
DEIS Plus provides additional supports to schools serving communities experiencing particularly high levels of educational disadvantage.
Labour TD Nash said he had worked with Prime Time reporter Louise Byrne to help bring the Drogheda issue to national attention.
“I was happy to help facilitate the Prime Time programme because I am adamant that this rank injustice visited on Drogheda’s schools needs national attention,” he said.
Nash seeks details of scoring system
Nash said he is now seeking more information from the Department of Education on how schools were assessed and how appeals were handled.
“On the programme the Minister Hildegarde Naughton simply couldn’t justify the exclusion of all Drogheda schools, many of whom are working with children and families who need just as much support as the seven schools in Dundalk who were quite rightly awarded DEIS+ status,” he said.
“I have requested the scoring scheme from the Department and for further details on how they assessed local schools and how the appeals were conducted.
“If the Minister wants to hide behind the data, then why won’t she publish it?”
RTÉ reported that the Department used a new DEIS Plus Index which gives greater weighting to indicators including unemployment and lone parenthood, while Traveller and Roma children and those living in State emergency accommodation are also among the priority indicators.
Minister Naughton told Prime Time that she was “not happy in relation to the level of data” available to the Department and had asked officials to work with other agencies to improve the information used when assessing schools.
The Department has also stated that it intends to publish more details on the methodology, making the process more transparent.
Nash said he does not intend to let the issue drop.
“I smell a rat and suffice to say I will not be letting this go. Children in Drogheda and their teachers, the SNAs, secretaries and caretakers in our schools are entitled to the best available support going.
“The Government has let them down. I won’t.”
RTÉ’s report featured St Paul’s National School in Drogheda, where principal Áine Carthy said the school had been “devastated” to learn it was not included in DEIS Plus.
The school serves communities containing areas classed as extremely disadvantaged under the Pobal Deprivation Index, one of the measures used by the Department.
The programme also examined the impact of trauma, drugs and serious crime on children living in parts of Drogheda and questioned whether the existing statistical model adequately captures those experiences.
Long-running concern in Drogheda
The latest controversy follows earlier concerns about the allocation of DEIS supports in the town.
The Drogheda Implementation Board has also previously sought additional educational supports as part of wider efforts to address disadvantage and social problems in the town.
Former Mayor of Drogheda and Labour councillor Michelle Hall welcomed the Prime Time coverage and said further answers are needed on why Drogheda received no DEIS Plus designations.
Nationally, 129 schools have been included in DEIS Plus, with €16 million being spent on the programme this year, rising to €48 million in 2027 as part of the wider 10-year DEIS strategy.
For Nash, the immediate issue is how Drogheda’s schools were scored and why none reached the threshold.
He has requested the scoring system and further detail on the appeals process from the Department and says he will continue pursuing the matter.
