Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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369. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of open section 29 appeals with her Department, by school district. [6157/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended) provides for an appeal, where a board of management, or a person acting on behalf of the board of management (normally the school principal) refuses to admit a student to a school, suspends a student for not less than 20 days or permanently excludes a student.

Where a board of management suspends a student from attendance at a school for a period or periods totalling not less than 20 school days in a school year, a parent / guardian can appeal that decision under Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 (as amended) and an independent appeals committee will be appointed to consider the appeal.

There are 4 types of decisions that the Board of Management of a school can make that, can be appealed to the appeals committee:

• Refusal to admit a student due to a school being oversubscribed:
• Refusal to admit a student for a reason other than the school being oversubscribed
• Expulsion
• Suspension for a period or periods totalling not less than 20 school days in a school year.