I thank you, Acting Chairman, for permitting me to raise this important issue. Absenteeism from school is very high in parts of my constituency. The enforcement of school attendance has been neglected in the county area of Dublin for many years. Local surveys show how serious is the problem. Those children who avoid school at an early age have very poor prospects. Their life chances are dramatically reduced as a result of absenteeism which, in turn, leads to early school drop-out.
More than two years ago a committee in my constituency, comprising teachers, parents and others in the Killenarden area, found that almost 20% of 2,000 pupils were regularly absent from school. This is an alarming conclusion which requires urgent and effective redress. Those concerned with the initiative at the time believed that the Education Welfare Act, 2000, would make a substantial contribution to tackling the problem since it envisaged the early appointment of school attendance officers, called education welfare officers, at least in the disadvantaged areas. It must be remembered that schools in my area of County Dublin have not had school attendance officers and it was not a function appropriate to the Garda Síochána.
Regrettably, the new Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Woods, has failed to implement the provisions of this Act. He has failed to appoint school attendance officers, even in the catchment areas of schools designated disadvantaged. This is a major disappointment to educationalists, teachers and parents who believed that at last school attendance would be enforced by trained professional personnel. As there is a downturn in the economy, people are concerned that if the Minister was unable to make a decision in boom times will he make the necessary decisions when economic conditions are less buoyant.
Education is still the principal transmitter of privilege in society. What chance in the knowledge economy have children who habitually miss school and drop out early? I have repeatedly raised the issue of the shortage of trained teachers in primary schools in disadvantaged areas in my constituency. I have instanced one such school where no fewer than 21 trained staff have left since 1999 and only nine trained teachers have been appointed to replace them. There is little point in the Minister putting a new law on the Statute Book if the Government deliberately stalls its implementation. I am afraid the Minister has no feel for the inequalities he is perpetuating in disadvantaged areas. Will he at least tell the House tonight that educational welfare officers will be appointed in areas designated disadvantaged by a given date?
