Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2023
351. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education the number of section 29 appeals that have been filed with her in 2022 and to date in 2023, by county; the number of those that were successful; and the number that were not; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55269/23]
View answerSection 29 of the Education Act 1998 as inserted by Section 7 of the Education (Admissions to schools) Act 2018 provides for an appeal, where a board of management, or a person acting on behalf of the board of management (normally the school principal) refuses to admit a student to a school, suspends a student for not less than 20 days or permanently excludes a student.
Section 29 D of this legislation provides for an oral hearing to be provided in circumstances where the appeal taken relates to a suspension of not less than 20 days, a permanent exclusion and a refusal to enrol decision that is for reasons other than oversubscription.
Section 29 E of the legislation provides that any appeal taken in respect of refused enrolment due to oversubscription, will be considered without an oral hearing.
Each appeal type, both oral and paper based is considered and determined by a three person appeal committee, appointed by me, as Minister, in accordance with Section 29 A(1) of the Act.
Within each appeal type, there is a provision for the hearing committee to allow or disallow or refuse to hear or determine the appeal before them. Section 29D, E and F outline the considerations that the appeals committee must make in determining each appeal. An appeal committee of three persons is appointed to consider each appeal.
The Section 29 Appeals Committee are statutory decision making bodies under the Education Act 1998 (as amended) and the Department does not decide on matters relating to how an appeal is conducted or the decision that may be made by them.
Please see attached, the number of Section 29 appeals that have been filed with this Department in 2022 and to date in 2023 by county. Information on the outcome of these appeals is also included.
2022
|
County |
Disallowed |
Refuse to Determine |
Allowed |
Withdrawn |
Total |
|
Carlow |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Cavan |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Clare |
3 |
2 |
5 |
||
|
Cork |
12 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
22 |
|
Donegal |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
Dublin |
62 |
23 |
4 |
20 |
109 |
|
Galway |
7 |
6 |
1 |
14 |
|
|
Kerry |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
|
Kildare |
10 |
7 |
1 |
13 |
31 |
|
Kilkenny |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
Laois |
4 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
|
|
Leitrim |
0 |
||||
|
Limerick |
0 |
||||
|
Longford |
0 |
||||
|
Louth |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
10 |
|
Mayo |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
|
Meath |
12 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
21 |
|
Monaghan |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
Offaly |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
Roscommon |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
Sligo |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Tipperary |
2 |
1 |
3 |
||
|
Waterford |
6 |
3 |
9 |
||
|
Westmeath |
9 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
|
|
Wexford |
5 |
1 |
3 |
9 |
|
|
Wicklow |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
278 |
*2023
|
County |
Disallow |
Refuse to Determine |
Allow |
Withdrawn |
Totals |
|
Carlow |
1 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
Cavan |
1 |
4 |
5 |
||
|
Clare |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
|
Cork |
13 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
22 |
|
Donegal |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Dublin |
43 |
23 |
12 |
11 |
89 |
|
Galway |
6 |
3 |
1 |
10 |
|
|
Kerry |
3 |
1 |
4 |
||
|
Kildare |
18 |
23 |
2 |
10 |
53 |
|
Kilkenny |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
Laois |
4 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
|
|
Leitrim |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Limerick |
13 |
24 |
4 |
8 |
49 |
|
Longford |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Louth |
3 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
|
|
Mayo |
2 |
2 |
4 |
||
|
Meath |
6 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
|
Monaghan |
0 |
||||
|
Offaly |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Roscommon |
0 |
||||
|
Sligo |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Tipperary |
3 |
1 |
4 |
||
|
Waterford |
7 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
|
Westmeath |
1 |
2 |
3 |
||
|
Wexford |
4 |
1 |
5 |
||
|
Wicklow |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
|
304 |
*Completed appeals as of 07 December 2023
