I thank the Minister for Education and Science for coming into the House to reply to this debate. It is an issue in which the Minister for Health and Children might have an interest.
On a fairly regular basis, and particularly over the past number of weeks, there has been a great deal of discussion about child welfare and the need for good quality child protection services, but many of our child protection services are hopelessly inadequate. Information is emerging rapidly in that respect which proves the point. It is unfortunate that we are spending approximately 80 per cent of our child care budget on emergency services, leaving only 20 per cent for any work in the vitally important prevention area. Any of the professionals working in the field will point to the enormous importance that must be attached to this area. The earlier a problem can be detected, the better chance there is of intervention being successful. The problem must be dealt with before it gets to the stage where it is out of control. That has happened far too often in relation to children's issues. We should aim to spend an equal amount on emergency and prevention services.
One of the most important prevention services in relation to child care is the school attendance service. If we had a proper school attendance service in place we could identify many of the child welfare issues at a point when we could do something to tackle them. The service is hopelessly inadequate. Most of the country does not have a service and, in the areas that do, it is hopelessly inadequate. We must accept that absence from school on a regular basis is generally the earliest indication that there is something seriously wrong at home. That is the point at which the services must kick in and the necessary support must be provided to children and to families if we are serious about tackling child welfare issues.
There is a service in the Dublin city area and two or three areas outside of Dublin but incredibly, in the rest of the country, the gardaí are expected to deal with this problem. That is a total nonsense because Garda time is more than taken up dealing with crime and traffic issues. They do not have any expertise in the child care or school attendance areas. The service as it currently operates is a disgrace.
I want to refer to the service in the Dublin city area with which I am familiar. The service is barely adequate, it has some kind of vague relationship with the Department of Education and Science, Dublin Corporation pays for it and yet it is accountable to nobody. As a member of Dublin City Council I find it extraordinary that we spend almost £1 million on this service yet we cannot ask questions about it or take any decisions in relation to policy. Some of the decisions taken over the years in relation to the deployment of staff are beyond belief. Areas of greatest need have the fewest officers and areas where there is the least need have the most officers. There is no hands-on management of the service, no accountability and no co-ordination with other agencies. However, it is better than no service. Attempts were made in recent years to employ extra staff to improve the quality of service, but it is far from ideal. The service covers the city area as it existed up to 1985, but that area excluded two important parts of Dublin, Cherry Orchard and Ballymun. A major anomaly exists because the city boundary changed in 1985 but the boundaries of the school attendance service did not change accordingly. Two major areas of Dublin are not being served by the Dublin city school attendance service.
Cherry Orchard is in the Taoiseach's constituency and I would have thought he would have played a more proactive role in ensuring the provision of a quality service in that area. Ballymun is in my constituency. Both areas have large populations, particularly large young populations, high levels of educational disadvantage and a corresponding high level of unemployment. It is no coincidence that the latter two correspond. A major problem in those two areas is the high rate of absenteeism in schools. Many schools report a regular absentee rate of 20 per cent and in some schools the rate is 30 per cent at times. On any one day almost one-third of the children are not present in school and nothing is being done about that. How can we say we are serious about child welfare unless we are prepared to tackle that problem as a matter of urgency?
Recent research in Ballymun revealed that a staggering 69 per cent of people in Ballymun leave school without any educational qualification, not even the junior certificate. That figure is an indictment of our education system. That relates to the high drop out rate from school and regular non-attendance at primary school. There are two problems; students not transferring to the post-primary school and regular non-attendance at primary school, which results in children falling behind in their studies, finding school too difficult and irrelevant and then dropping out. Until such time as the long awaited school attendance Bill is introduced, which should be given priority by the Government, will the Minister arrange by ministerial order to change the boundaries for the Dublin city school attendance service to include Ballymun and Cherry Orchard, two areas of great need? I look forward to the Minister's positive response.
