Vol. 486 No. 3
290 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of students to whom the school attendance service provided contact and follow up in the most recent year for which data is available; the areas of the country where he believes a satisfactory school attendance service is in place; the cost of the present service and the estimated cost of a comprehensive service that would give national coverage to a satisfactory level. [2583/98]
Responsibility for the enforcement of school attendance legislation rests with school attendance committees in certain parts of Dublin, Dún Laoghaire, Cork and Waterford. In all other areas, responsibility rests with the relevant Garda authorities. Data on the number of cases which came to the attention of school attendance officers and the gardaí is not readily available to my Department.
The cost of operating the school attendance service in areas covered by school attendance committees in 1997 was £1.2 million approximately. The cost of enforcing the School Attendance Acts by the Garda Síochána is not available, as it is not possible to segregate this cost from the overall cost of the wider range of functions carried out by the Garda Síochána.
My Department is currently engaged in the preparation of draft legislation to deal with the complex issues involved in non-school attendance. I hope to be in a position to publish draft legislation before the end of the year.
The question of the future organisation of school attendance services will be among the matters addressed in the legislation.
