Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the fact that there is no educational welfare officer assigned to County Mayo, which means that children who are absenting themselves from school are not being followed up until at least 60 days have passed and that there are serious discrepancies in this system; the reason no educational welfare officer has been approved; when an officer will be appointed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4961/06]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Education (Welfare) Act 2000 established the National Educational Welfare Board as the single national body with responsibility for school attendance. The general functions of the board are to ensure that each child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education.

To discharge its responsibilities, the board is developing a nationwide service that is accessible to schools, parents and guardians and others concerned with the welfare of young people. For this purpose, educational welfare officers, EWOs, have been appointed and deployed throughout the country to provide a welfare focused service to support regular school attendance and discharge the board's functions locally. In deploying its service staff, the National Educational Welfare Board has prioritised the provision of services to the most disadvantaged areas and most at-risk groups.

Five regional teams are in place with bases in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford and staff have been deployed in areas of greatest disadvantage and in areas designated under the Government's RAPID programme. Towns which have an educational welfare officer allocated to them include Dundalk, Drogheda, Navan, Athlone, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Bray, Clonmel, Tralee, Ennis, Sligo, Naas, Castlebar, Longford, Tuam, Tullamore, Letterkenny and Portlaoise. In addition to the staff of the NEWB, there are some 490 staff in educational inclusion programmes whose work involves a school attendance element.

My Department is anxious to ensure that the maximum benefit is derived from these substantial personnel resources. Consequently, work is ongoing to develop appropriate protocols for integrated working between the different services involved.

My Department has been informed by the NEWB that an EWO vacancy currently exists in County Mayo and that the recruitment process to fill this vacancy is at an advanced stage. Pending an appointment to this position urgent cases in this region are being responded to by the SEWO in Sligo.