Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason the gardaí do not take action regarding young people seen begging on city streets here during school hours in view of the fact that national legislation requires school attendance until the age of 16. [40263/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The provisions of section 247 of the Children Act 2001, which provides that an offence is committed by a person causing, procuring or allowing a child to beg, are regularly utilised by members of An Garda Síochána in circumstances where children are being used by adults for the purposes of begging. During 2009 a number of arrests were made in relation to children being used for begging in Dublin. Reports were also provided to the Health Service Executive in respect of each incident, in compliance with the Children First Guidelines.

Gardaí in Dublin city centre have, on occasion, used the provisions of section 12 of the Child Care Act 1991 which provides for the protection of children in emergency situations, whereby a child can be brought into care without a care order where a member of An Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds to believe that there is an immediate and serious risk to the health and welfare of the child.

The National Educational Welfare Board, which was established under the Educational Welfare Act 2000 and is under the aegis of the Department of Education and Science, is the statutory body with responsibility for school attendance.