Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Again, I want to inform the committee that I intend to table an amendment or, perhaps, a number of amendments on Report Stage in order to address issues that may emerge with regard to changing the definition of a child and the impact this may have on the operation of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000. The change to the definition of a child for the entirety of the Act will have implications which are currently difficult to anticipate. For instance, bringing all children enrolled in a recognised school within the scope of the Act could impact on the decision of parents as to whether they should enrol their children in school before reaching the compulsory schooling age of six. It is important to note that the compulsory schooling age would not change on the basis of this Bill.

Another potential impact would be to bring more children and parents under the scope of section 25 of the Act. Under this section the parent of a child who is neglecting to cause his or her child to attend a recognised school can be served with a school attendance notice and face subsequent prosecution should the parent contravene the requirements of the notice. The penalties for parents who face such a prosecution are a potential fine and imprisonment of up to one month. In this regard the proposed Bill could lead to a situation whereby a parent of a four or five year old child faces prosecution in respect of the non-attendance of a child who has not yet reached the compulsory school-going age. There is potential for a legal challenge to the legislation on that basis given this ambiguity. The officials in my Department are currently carrying out a section by section analysis of the Act in an attempt to identify some of these potential unintended consequences.