Regulations should be brought in for parents who "take their children out of school to go on holiday in May and September because it is cheaper", according to Ms Mary Hanafin (FF).
During a debate on the Education (Welfare) Bill, whose main aim is to deal with school truancy, she called for the introduction of such regulations, which she said should also be aimed at travel agents "who go out of their way to target family holidays during the school term". She said: "The last and the first month in school are crucial but parents do not seem to realise the importance of that."
Parents needed to take more responsibility for children missing the last class of the day or the first class of the morning, as well as missing a full day, she said. Mr Michael Ring (FG, Mayo) believed it was not true to say the State had a wonderful education system. "It is a wonderful system if you are two things - bright and rich. If you are bright and you are in a class of 36 or 37 pupils, you can pick up what is going on, but if you are not bright you fall behind."
He added that "if you are rich you can send your child to a boarding school". However, "if you are not rich and your child falls behind, that child has no hope of being identified and given the special care that he or she needs".
Many children were living in terrible circumstances, he said, and their only relief was when they went to school to get away from the house.
"It is sad that on the verge of the new millennium some children still go to school hungry and come home afraid, and that there is no one to do anything for them."