Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to clarify that the €100 million I mentioned in fraudulent payments consists of overpayments and inappropriate payments. Connecting child benefit and school attendance would bring about these savings, which could be better spent in supporting children where there are challenges in the home. There are legitimate reasons for some of the 1,500 children who did not make the transition from primary school to secondary school - their parents might have emigrated, as sadly more and more are doing - but consistently over recent years, a thousand children per annum have not made the transition from primary school to secondary school, and according to the most recent figures the number has spiked at 1,500. The concern is that a large percentage of these children are falling out of the education system. If there were a connection between child benefit and school attendance it would ensure these children made the transition into secondary school.

We still have a huge problem with truancy, with one in ten primary school children and one in six post-primary schoolchildren absent for more than 20 days per year, which is a month of the school year. I accept that the Minister is correct in saying we need a whole-school approach on this, and the pilots have shown this, but we also need a whole-of-government approach. There should be a link between the National Education Welfare Board, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Social Protection so that we can link the databases available to each to identify these vulnerable children, support them and ensure the proper resources are allocated to these families.

See this speech in context