asked the Minister for Education if she has made any regulations on any matters under section 23 of the School Attendance Act, 1926 in the past ten years; if so, when such regulations were made; and the purpose thereof.
Written Answers. - School Attendance Act, 1926.
168.
No formal regulations have been made by any Minister for Education under section 23 of the Act in the past ten years.
I propose to consider the question of reviewing this Act in the light of recommendations of the primary review body when it reports to me.
169.
asked the Minister for Education if she will give a list of the school attendance areas established under section 9 of the School Attendance Act, 1926; and the location where registers of school attendance are available for inspection in accordance with that Act.
The school attendance areas established under section 9 of the School Attendance Act, 1926, are listed in the School Attendance (Constitution of Areas) Order, 1926, No. 77 of 1926. Variations were made to some of the areas, and these are listed in School Attendance (Variation of Areas) Order, 1929, No. 20 of 1930. Both orders are available in the Dáil Library.
Registers of school attendance are available for inspection in the schools themselves. Officers authorised by the school attendance committee or an officer or member of the Garda Síochána duly authorised by the Act are permitted to examine these registers.
170.
asked the Minister for Education the number and area of responsibility of each school attendance committee set up under the School Attendance Act, 1926.
The boroughs designated by the School Attendance Act, 1926, to have school attendance committees are Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Dún Laoghaire. Limerick opted out of the scheme in 1926.
The Dublin borough is divided into five school attendance areas and each area has a Committee. The Dún Laoghaire borough has two committees — one with responsibility for Blackrock, the other for Dún Laoghaire. Cork and Waterford have one committee each.
171.
asked the Minister for Education the number of occasions on which prosecutions were brought under the School Attendance Act, 1926 in the past year.
The school attendance committees, who are the enforcing authorities for the School Attendance Act in the borough areas of Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Dún Laoghaire have brought a total of 315 prosecutions during the period September 1987 to June 1988. The figures for the year 1988-89 are not complete as yet.
In all other areas the Garda Síochána are the enforcing authority for the Act and in the time available it is not possible to compile similar data for those areas.