The head of the National Education Welfare Board says the organisation had no choice but to dismiss a senior employee.

The parents of a 15-year-old boy have been fined €1,200 after their son failed to attend school in what was described as a “chronic level of absenteeism”.

A few times a week and at the end of every month, primary school deputy principal Paul Harrington complies with education law by writing pupil attendance figures from his computer into a book like those used by his 19th century predecessors.

A judge has threatened to jail the parents of a 12-year- old girl who has only attended 11 days of the current school year.

Dozens of schools did not meet a legal requirement to report pupil attendance figures in at least three years between 2007 and 2011 and five made no returns at all.

Thirty parents have been taken to court and convicted so far this year for failing to send their children to school.

One in seven children miss school for more than 20 days a year, it has emerged.

The state body for monitoring school attendance has said it is “very lucky” to be employing a consultant who quit as director of children’s services in Britain following a damning report.

School absentee rates are falling — but so are staff levels within the body charged with monitoring it, with one county being overseen by just one senior manager.

Nine people were jailed last year for failing to send their children to school.

A JUDGE has questioned the “layers and layers of bureaucracy” which she says are preventing a child from getting an education appropriate to his needs.

CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald has asked for a report on the legal status of tens of thousands of children who are outside the law on tackling school absenteeism until they turn six.

ONE of the country’s most experienced school truancy officers believes closing a legal loophole that excludes intervention with younger children could help the battle against regular absences.

MORE than 98% of the 67,000 children starting primary school this week will be outside the law covering absenteeism for at least the first term.

FINANCIAL difficulties are leading to children missing school on a regular basis, according to staff working with families to address poor attendance.

TEN people were jailed last year for failing to send their children to school, with the number of parents prosecuted hitting an all-time high.

A PROGRAMME is being drafted with the aim of keeping children in school and their parents out of the courts.

TRAVELLERS will be disproportionately affected by the budget cuts, according to an analysis by Barnardos.

A COLLEGE building project went over budget by almost half and took almost twice as long as expected, a Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) probe has found.

CHILDREN’S Minister Barry Andrews said the appointment of a ‘child czar’ would be the missing piece in the jig-saw of child protection services.

CHILDREN attending special schools are missing twice as much time at school as other pupils – but staff feel greater medical support and links to home could help address the imbalance.

Almost 17,000 pupils are suspended every year with another 150 students expelled from schools, it emerged today.

THE number of children registered for home-schooling has more than trebled to almost 700 in just five years.

THE body in charge of school attendance has said it only takes criminal proceedings against parents as a last resort after a mother-of-five was jailed for a month for failing to make her son go to classes.

A RECORD number of legal warnings were issued to the parents of children who failed to attend school last year.

THE possibility that a €19,000 bonus given in error by a state board may never be recovered from an ex-employee has been condemned by the head of the Oireachtas spending watchdog.

THERE were 13 convictions against parents relating to truant children in the first five months of this year, one of which ended in a custodial sentence, according to the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB).

CONCERNS have been raised by teachers and principals about the integration of a number of education agencies working with disadvantaged children into the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB).

THE number of children receiving home tuition grants has increased, but only a fraction of the hundreds of schoolgirls who become pregnant are availing of the payments, with only 70 teenage girls receiving the grant last year.

A TEENAGE brother and sister had lost a huge amount of days at school due to the trauma caused by the gangland murder of their older brother, Limerick District Court heard yesterday.

More than 100,000 children are missing at least 20 days of school each year, according to the latest statistics from the National Education and Welfare Board.

POORER students at schools not officially recognised as disadvantaged will be discriminated against by the budget’s education cutbacks, it has been claimed.

SCHOOL bus charges for some children will have trebled in a little more than a year when the latest budget rise comes into effect next summer.

FIVE students who never missed a day of school for 14 years have been honoured for their achievement.

EDUCATION, health and welfare services may be more closely linked to provide an integrated service for poorer families under plans being considered by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

THE importance of sport in helping children stay at school was stressed by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe as he tried out his hand against some of the country’s top gaelic games players yesterday.

BULLYING, or poor relations with teachers, are more likely to cause pupils to miss a lot of school than attitudes at home, which have previously been blamed, research has found.

THE report into lapses of internal control at the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) referred to a number of issues apart from purchase of IT equipment.

WHEN Neil Ryan joined the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) as its IT manager in May 2003, he may have given the impression that he had more qualifications than he actually did.

THE Government has been accused of trying to rubbish Census figures revealed by the Irish Examiner which show that school dropout rates have doubled in the past decade.

SCHOOLS should consider approaches such as restorative justice instead of suspending students for bad behaviour, according to guidelines published yesterday.

A NEW leaflet designed to help parents ensure their children receive a proper education has been printed in 18 languages to reflect the widening diversity of pupils in the country’s schools.

MORE than 100,000 children may be missing vital schooling every year because their parents want cheaper holidays during term time or do not think school is important, a major survey on school attendance reveals.

EFFORTS are continuing to find places in second-level schools in Galway for three boys who have not been in class since September because they were refused entry to first year.