Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The law states that if a child is absent for more than 20 days without a legitimate reason such as illness, the case should be referred to Tusla. Sadly, however, due to the limited staffing resources, children have to miss multiples of the 20 days before a referral is made in the first place. Having said that, more than 6,000 children are referred each year to the Tusla Education Support Service. That is an average of 33 children referred every single school day. Would it not be better use of the 98 staff working within the service to work with the families in a supportive manner to address the underlying issues causing school attendance problems, rather than preparing legal files, attending court on numerous occasions and fining vulnerable families up to €2,000?

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