Parents fined over children’s school non-attendance

A 13-year-old boy at the centre of a judge’s threat to jail his parents for Christmas has the learning capacity of a six-year-old due to chronic educational neglect.

At Ennis District Court, Kevin Sherry, a solicitor for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency (CFA), said the teenager “has the learning capacity of a six- to seven-year-old and is suffering from chronic educational neglect”.

Mr Sherry said the case “is as bad as it gets in terms of the boy’s parents failing in their legal and moral obligation concerning the educational needs of their child”.