Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 552: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of children who were enrolled in school and who then left school prematurely for the past three years; the reason the children involved left. [24764/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The numbers leaving Primary School in the most recent three years for which complete data are available are provided in the following Data Table.

The Deputy should note that it is not generally the policy of my Department to investigate the reasons for which any individual has left or changed school. Research by bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Institute has identified a wide range of factors from family and personal circumstances to economic, social, health and learning reasons. However, it is my policy to provide the maximum support through the National Education and Welfare Board and other agencies by way of early diagnosis and intervention to encourage young people to obtain the maximum benefit from their experience of school as well as to complete their full education. A key component of my Department's DEIS Strategy is to tackle educational disadvantage through positive discrimination in favour of children who are at risk of dropping out of school early. In line with current thinking it favours an integrated cross-community and cross-sectoral approach based on the development of local strategies.