No extra staff to check absenteeism

EXTRA staff to tackle school absenteeism will not be appointed next year because Education Minister Noel Dempsey believes their work is being done by existing services.

He also believes laws should not have been changed to remove the role of school attendance officers from gardaí.

The Education (Welfare) Act 2000 empowers the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) to monitor school attendance, but the board has only appointed 70 staff so far.