‘It breaks my heart as a Mayor and teacher’ – Dismay in Louth at DEIS funding snub
The omission of Drogheda schools from the new DEIS Plus scheme is “heart-breaking” and ignores clear evidence of disadvantage across the town, Drogheda Mayor Cllr Michelle Hall has said.
Speaking at the latest monthly meeting of Drogheda Borough District, the mayor criticised the decision not to include any Drogheda schools in the 2026 DEIS Plus programme, despite data showing significant and deepening levels of deprivation across parts of the town.
“It breaks my heart as a Mayor and as a teacher,” Cllr Hall told councillors. “Evidence has shown that the dispersal of wealth has widened in areas of Drogheda where our schools are located.”
She said approximately 10,000 people in Drogheda fall within the lower end of the social deprivation scale index.
“There are people living well below the poverty line and they are extremely disadvantaged. I think it is shocking that this data was ignored,” she said.
In March, it was announced that six additional primary schools in County Louth were being awarded DEIS Plus status, bringing the total number of schools included in the new scheme in the county to seven. However, none of those schools are located in Drogheda.
The DEIS Plus scheme forms part of a €48 million annual investment under the Government’s DEIS Strategy to 2035, aimed at tackling educational disadvantage through enhanced staffing, supports and initiatives for schools serving areas of high deprivation.
Cllr Hall strongly criticised the decision to include schools in Dundalk in the latest round while Drogheda schools were excluded.
She argued that tackling inequality must begin early, saying: “Bringing people out of poverty begins with safe, sustainable homes, developing the brain from the womb to six years of age, and being given a good chance at education.”
She added that the decisions taken around the DEIS scheme did not take into account the “very real impact of gender based violence against women and girls.”
The debate took place following an emergency motion tabled by Cllr Hall, calling on councillors to declare “no confidence” in the government over a range of measures impacting Drogheda, including the exclusion of local schools from the DEIS Plus scheme.
However, the motion did not reach the floor. Two counter-motions were subsequently proposed by Cllr James Byrne and Cllr Ejiro O’Hare Stratton, neither of which were ultimately passed by the council.
In his proposed motion, Cllr Byrne called on the government to “review its decision regarding the omission of funds for Drogheda schools under DEIS Plus, notwithstanding the additional funding secured for local DEIS schools as part of the Drogheda Implementation Plan”.
During the discussion, Mayor Hall said that the “special supports” included in the implementation plan were time-limited.
“They are only for five years,” she said, adding that DEIS Plus status would provide sustained, long-term support for schools serving disadvantaged communities.