Mr. Ciarán Cronin:

I thank the Deputy for such nice and kind words out of the blue. I will touch on the issue of children who are not coming to school and absenteeism. As a home school liaison and a principal, I have learned that no parents want their children sitting at home and not coming to school. In every case we have of a child who has missed upwards of 60 or 70 days of school, there are many complex issues, all of which are playing out. The symptom of those issues is that the children are missing school. The problem is not missing school. It is a symptom of all the other problems. In our school, we have tried to look at school absenteeism as a symptom of another problem when we are dealing with parents. That has led to lots of referrals to different agencies and services. That is only possible with the amazing support of our Tusla EWO, Ms Marion Mannion, and the close relationship we have built over time. As Mr. O'Neill mentioned, it is all about these relationships which help you push your school forward. That is just something I wanted to mention. I do not know if Mr. O'Neill has similar experiences.