Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The good part of the answer is that suspension should not be the first port of call and should be quite unusual. That reassurance is being sought. The difficulty is that in the opinion of some professionals, which has been sought, regular suspension of a student can demonstrate to him that if he is bold he will get off school the next day which can cause problems. Other penalties such as internal suspension or taking the child out of the immediate environment but keeping him in the school environment and other milder sanctions might be better than leaving him at home with the parents struggling and making it more difficult for them to bring him to school the next day.

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