LITTLE girls who were missing from school for almost eight out of every 10 school days have improved their attendance since their mother was summonsed to court because of their absences, a judge was told.
The Limerick District Court, sitting in Newcastle West, heard evidence that a 10-year-old girl attended St Anne’s National School in Rathkeale on just 92 out of 178 school days in 2023.
In 2024, the young girl attended school on 101 days out of 177.
Judge Carol Anne Coolican heard that the girl’s younger sister, aged seven years old, had a similar attendance pattern.
Dermot O’Donovan, prosecuting on behalf of the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, heard from the education officer giving evidence that the school had referred the matter to Tusla in 2023 after numerous absences.
An attendance order had been issued to the girls’ mother, a resident of Rathkeale, which was breached on March 4 after the 10-year-old girl had missed 130 days school out of 166, the court heard.
The breach was the reason that the girls’ mother was summonsed to court.
Mr O’Donovan said that since the summons had issued, the girls’ attendance had “greatly improved” and the 78 per cent absences had been reduced to around 25 per cent.
The girls’ mother told the court that her older child suffers from a rare health condition which leaves her “very ill” and at serious risk much of the time.
The education officer gave evidence that the mother had also revealed that the family does a lot of traveling to Dublin, where the girls’ father lives, and this had been impacting their school attendance.
The mother gave the court assurances that the children would be in school on a more regular basis.
Judge Coolican said that “education is the pathway to the future”, describing the situation with the girls as “chronic non-attendance”.
The judge said she would adjourn the matter until May 6, “to ensure that the school attendance continues and that these children get opportunities in life”.
