Woman jailed as children fail to attend school

A WOMAN has been jailed for failing to send her daughter and two sons to school.

The Limerick woman is the 10th person to receive a custodial sentence this year for failing to educate her children, according to the Education Welfare Board.

Meanwhile, prosecutions have increased from 51 in 2008 to 194 this year.

Stuart Moloney, the education and welfare officer for Limerick city and county, said the woman had a daughter aged 14 and two sons aged 9 and 10.

The girl was enrolled in a city secondary school and the boys enrolled in a primary school.

Mr Moloney told Limerick District Court that in the academic year September 2010 to June 2011, the boys attended school on just three days and the girl did not attend school at all.

Mr Moloney told of the lengths they had gone to in order to get the mother to send her children to school, by engaging with her on home visits.

The mother told the court she did not have the finances to send the children to school.

However, Mr Moloney pointed out that she was in receipt of supplementary welfare, rent allowance and back to school allowance.

The woman was sent to prison for 14 days and recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.

Mr Moloney said a prosecution was the very last resort and that every effort was always made to resolve obstacles which may prevent children attending school.

They said meet with families and carry out home visits, before embarking on any legal action.