THE Minister for Education has welcomed the re-admission of four traveller children to a Co Clare school which had prevented their return to the classroom last September.
John, Mike, Patrick and Sarah Ward have re enrolled at Killimor national school, following the decision by Ms Breathnach to change the Department of Education's rules on primary school enrolment. Another member of Mrs Eileen Ward's family, Dermot, has enrolled for the first time.
The Ward children had been prevented from attending the school after the Department introduced a new enrolment policy during the summer months. The new rules stopped enrolment of children living outside the parish. The Wards live on a traveller encampment between Killimor and Portumna, three miles outside the parish boundary.
Under the old national school rules, the schools were able to remove the children's names from the school roll, as they had failed to attend school for more than 15 days. To prevent this happening again, the Department has amended the 15 day rule to allow greater flexibility in re-enrolment.
The new rule will allow for the re-enrolment of children who have been in special schools and are returning to mainstream schools those whose families moved from the locality, and then return and children who have been absent from school through illness.
In each case, however, there must be a place available in the school. Ms Breathnach said her Department would circulate the amended rule to schools in January.
The row in Killimor followed concern locally about an increase in the number of traveller children attending the school. A decision was taken by parents during the summer to restrict pupils to those living within the area, although not all parents supported this move. Last term, there were 12 traveller children enrolled, to whom one of the teachers is specificity assigned.
Killimor school had denied that its decision to exclude the Ward children amounted to discrimination, as Ms Ward had claimed. The school is the nearest to the family. Since September, the children have remained at home.
Mr Ciaran Kitching, the chairman of the school board of management, was unavailable for comment last night.