Record pupil truancy warnings issued

More official warnings than ever before were sent last year to parents about their children failing to attend school — but only a handful were convicted.

Figures from the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), which works within the Child and Family Agency, show 553 School Attendance Notices (SANs) were issued to parents in 2014 — up from 537 in the previous year.

If parents do not heed the warning and take steps to ensure their children return to school, the next step is the issuing of a court summons — which happened 137 times last year.

However, that marked a fall when compared to the 175 summonses issued in 2013. And while the figures for 2014 are still provisional, so far just nine convictions have resulted from summonses initiated.

In 2013, a total of 70 convictions were handed down, including some custodial sentences, with a similar number of convictions in the years before that.

However, Dan O’Shea, regional manager with the NEWB, said more could arise from cases initiated last year. He said any apparent fall in the number of convictions was “coincidental” and likely due to a larger number of summonses issued in the latter half of last year that have yet to reach court. He said last year’s convictions did include some custodial sentences.

The figures also show that as of the end of 2014, 72 cases had been adjourned and 25 were ongoing. One case had been dismissed and another two withdrawn. Another 11 had been adjourned with leave to re-enter. A bench warrant was issued in respect of five cases.

Some 91 children were involved in the 137 summonses issued, and 348 children were the subject of the 553 SANs issued last year.

Mr O’Shea said that, typically, a quarter of SANs led to a later court action, but that the system was working well in allowing parents “every chance” to comply with orders before cases entered the courts. “A summons is a last resort,” he said.

Just last week the Dublin District Court heard that a mother is awaiting sentencing after her daughter, aged 12, missed almost 300 days of school in four years.

The court heard that the primary school child had been upset by comments on social media and her mother failed to co-operate with welfare officers trying to resolve the school attendance problem.

The girl had missed 80 school days since September.

The mother faces a fine of up to €1,000 or a jail term of up to a month, but adjourning the case until May, Judge John O’Neill said he did not want to convict, fine, or jail the mother. He warned her if she did not co-operate, “it will not be to your advantage”.

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