Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I accept that. However, that is the value of the other education provision which is available and which we are mapping at present. Some of this provision comes directly within the remit of the Department of Education and Science. However, there are institutions that do not come within the Department's remit which are doing very good work and which are providing a service to young people. Having identified where the gaps lie, we will be seeking not only to expand Youthreach but also to cater for the needs of members of that younger age group that are vulnerable.

As I stated previously, I would be very anxious that no child should be rejected from a second level school because it is far too early to reject them at that age. Such a child should at least complete first year in a second level school to give him or her the opportunity to participate fully in mainstream education and then see in second and third year if it is not working out for them or that type of system does not suit them. That is part and parcel of what we are doing with the alternative provision.

Returning to the matter in the amendment, the National Educational Welfare Board has a statutory obligation to support the child, work with the parents, find an alternative provision and then monitor the progress of the child's education. In light of what Deputy Gogarty stated, the National Educational Welfare Board does good work but keeping a child in school obviously involves the co-operation of so many different people. It is not just a matter of the education welfare officer's role at the end. That is why there are 460 home-school-community liaison officers, with a further 80 being recruited at present, to work with parents and families and to ensure attendance.

In that light, one can also throw in the school completion co-ordinators who are organising school activities and out of school activities and, importantly, working on the transition between primary and secondary, particularly in disadvantaged schools. This is working well; they are now making the transition because they are more comfortable with it. I see the work of the National Educational Welfare Board, in the context of encouraging people in school which is what we are discussing, as part of a much bigger picture in which we reckon there are approximately 600 people who have some direct remit in this regard now working.

The rights of the individual are still protected in the legislation. It is a balance against the rights of all the others to learn as well, which is the one element that was missing from the Education Act until we came up with this amendment to section 29. The National Educational Welfare Board has the statutory obligation to ensure that suitable provision is found for the child. For those reasons, I cannot accept the amendments.

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