I am aware of the problem of children who are not attending school because they have been expelled or excluded from second-level schools and whose parents have great difficulty in finding alternative school places for them. The managerial authorities of second-level schools are responsible for ensuring that a fair and efficient code of behaviour, encompassing rules, sanctions and procedures, is drawn up and applied in the school. Circumstances will vary from school to school and it is only those intimately involved with a particular school who can draw up the detail of a code of discipline appropriate for that school. Accordingly, the most effective method of countering indiscipline is for each individual school to draw up its own code of behaviour. In drawing up the code, school authorities should have regard to guidelines issued by my Department.