Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

The Minister outlined a case she has come across and we teased out the issue of schools failing to formally issue refusals and passing the students on to another school on Second and Committee Stages. I have re-examined this issue and recently I had a discussion with a group of parents who also raised the matter. I do not know whether the legislation addresses this effectively but the Minister referred to the possibility of conducting an information campaign. Parents are not aware as they should be that if they do not receive a formal refusal from a school regarding a child's application to attend, the appeals committee will consider it a refusal if 21 days have lapsed without a reply. That is a live issue, which needs to be addressed. There is little point in people having rights if they are not aware that they can enforce them. While an appeal may solve the problem and it would be beneficial from a time perspective, perhaps the Minister could address that issue.

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