Almost 3,500 notices issued to families over school absenteeism

Almost 830 court summonses were issued in the last seven years to the parents or guardians of children for repeated absences o from school.

Almost 3,500 notices have been issued over the course of seven years "as a last resort" to families after children were absent from school 20 days or more.

Figures provided to the Irish Examiner by Tusla, the State agency responsible for ensuring that children attend school regularly, show that 3,444 school attendance notices were issued to the families of 2,201 individual children between 2015 and 2021.