Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

There is a fine line here. The Deputy is absolutely right in stating that if children are unable to attend, then it is important that inability to attend for a sickness reason is identified and does not give rise to the situation of which he spoke. Importantly, we also have to be careful - and the committee has discussed this issue previously - about children who may have become disengaged. We do not want to turn off the red light on the 20 days aspect because we need to find ways to deal with that. We need to work with our colleagues on the education welfare side of things who, as I mentioned, are now coming under the aegis of the Department of Education and Skills while still working within Tusla, to ensure that we ascertain that the connections are made and that the whole-school approach in respect of all liaison etc., especially in disadvantaged schools, ensures that this risk of disengagement does not give rise to high levels of non-attendance.