Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

Does the Minister not agree it is a failure that despite the existence of the school completion system and the National Educational Welfare Board, we are still speculating about the numbers of children who may have left the country? We are talking about 12 year olds and it is extremely worrying that we do not know the status of children of that age.

Was it initially envisaged at the establishment of the NEWB that the function of drawing up the database would rest with it? I recall some discussion of this at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Education and Science, but I may be mistaken in this. What role will the NEWB have in this regard?

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