Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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217. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide information on section 29 school expulsion appeals undertaken at post-primary level in each of the past five years, including details of the outcomes (details supplied). [28025/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy in relation to parts i, ii and iii is outlined in the table below at heading, ‘Permanent Exclusions: All Post Primary.’

Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 provided that the outcome for appeals lodged were required to be determined as upheld, upheld in part or not upheld. It also allowed for appeals to be resolved under a ‘Local’ or ‘Facilitator Resolution’ process. The figures for permanent exclusions before the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act was amended in 2018 are as follows:

The Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, which amended the 1998 Act, provided for a Section 29 Appeals hearing committee to allow, disallow or refuse to hear or determine an appeal. A refusal to hear or determine an appeal can occur in instances but not exclusively, whereby an appeal is received late the appeals committee must refuse to hear / determine it. The appellant can seek a review of this decision.

This change took affect from 12 November 2020. Therefore, the figures for 2020 are split to reflect this change.

The figures for permanent exclusions since the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act was amended in 2018 are as follows:

Under Section 29(9) of the Education Act 1998, in the case of a school which is established or maintained by a vocational education committee an appeal against a decision of the board of such school shall lie, in the first instance, to the vocational education committee and thereafter to the Secretary General. However, this requirement is not included in the 2018 Act.

I regret to advise that this department does not hold records regarding Section 29 appeals made to Education and Training Boards.

The figures provided in the first table above, include all appeals relating to exclusions in post-primary schools applied for under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 which were lodged to the Secretary General of the Department of Education. The Education (Admissions to Schools Act) 2018 does not include reference to the Secretary General of the Department, and all appeals since then (included in the second table) are made to the Minister for Education.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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218. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide information on courtroom challenges to section 29 expulsion appeal decisions at post-primary school level in each of the past five years, be that by way of judicial review or other courtroom proceedings; the number of challenges lodged by parents; the number lodged by the school board of management; and details of the outcomes of these challenges. [28026/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is outlined in the table below: