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

The problem is that if the Departments of Education and Skills and Social Protection and the National Educational Welfare Board were linked up, many more abuses in the system would be identified and much greater savings secured. This link should be established once for all to eliminate the annual control savings. The reason I raise this matter is that teachers tell me that some parents lack the motivation to ensure their children attend school. The National Educational Welfare Board has published details of cases involving parents who had to be dragged through the courts and fined to persuade them to ensure their children attended school. Surely it would make more sense to threaten such parents with the withdrawal of child benefit, rather than spending 12 months dragging them through the courts and having children lose out on a year's education to achieve the same objective.

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