Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 12, line 16, after “the” to insert “educational welfare”.

I welcome the Minister back to the House and assure her that Members have tabled amendments to try to improve the Bill but that they are anxious to see the Bill enacted quickly. This amendment proposes the inclusion of the term "educational welfare" on page 12, line 16, before the word "development". Its purpose is to support and promote the educational welfare, development and protection of children by ensuring all services engage in prevention and early intervention practice. The rationale of the Children Rights Alliance for this amendment is that the provisions on family support and the role of educational welfare should also be expanded upon. It states:

Section 72 of the Bill provides for the transfer of the functions of the National Educational Welfare Board to the Agency, and this Agency function is referred to in Section 8(1). Section 8(1)(b) and (c) further elaborate on the functions of the Agency in relation to family support and the “development, welfare and protection of children”. Educational welfare may be implicitly included in the latter phrase. However, we believe that the Bill would benefit from a more explicit acknowledgment of the importance of educational welfare. The link between school non-attendance and child welfare concerns is well known. It is also critically important to recognise educational welfare services as a route for identifying other underlying child protection issues in a child’s life. We believe the greater visibility of the issue of educational welfare would also help ensure buy-in from staff within the National Education Welfare Board.

This certainly constitutes a large improvement from a time when a garda would be given responsibility, without backup, for school attendance issues. This created major difficulties because the backup was not in place, which is the reason I believe it to be important. The Minister should consider this matter and respond accordingly.