Almost €1m spent on school suspension appeals

The State has spent just under €1m in the past three years on hearing appeals from secondary school pupils who were either expelled or suspended.

A total of 128 students were expelled from second-level schools during the 2008/09 school year, and that figure rose to 148 students for the following school year. The data for 2010/11 is not yet available.

According to figures provided by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, the number of cases that went before a hearing committee was far higher.