Vol. 513 No. 4
228 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of education welfare officers which will be appointed; when they will be appointed; the way in which they will be assigned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2722/00]
As the Deputy will be aware, the enactment of the Education (Welfare) Bill is now at an advanced stage and I expect that it will be enacted within the next few weeks. Thereafter I propose to implement the enacted Bill in a phased, planned way as soon as practicable.
The precise number of educational welfare officers will be a matter ultimately for the National Educational Welfare Board, with the consent of the Minister for Education and Science and the Minister for Finance. In the initial stages of implementation of the Bill, the existing school attendance officers will form the nucleus of the corps of educational welfare officers and these will be added to over time by additional recruitment.
