Legal moves which could for the first time see parents fined or jailed for serious breaches of the school attendance laws have been set in train by the education welfare board.
The board has confirmed to The Irish Times that school attendance notices - the first step towards court action - will be issued to over 20 parents in the coming weeks.
The parents in questions face a €600 fine and/or up to three months imprisonment unless they take action to improve their children's attendance in school.
The cases facing legal proceedings also involve cases where a child has been absent for school for several months without any adequate explanation.
The decision by the new National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) to pursue parents for their children's non-attendance at school under the Education Welfare Act is a landmark one.
Under the old 1926 school attendance legislation, the children themselves were punished for non-attendance in school, usually by detention in industrial schools.
Imprisonment of parents who failed to co-operate with school attendance laws, while not routine, is fairly common in Britain. Two years ago, the NEWB notified every parent in the State of their obligations under the new laws.
Last year, the first detailed national survey of school attendance - compiled by the board - indicated that over 25 per cent of children in some disadvantaged areas are absent for at least one month of each school year. But it also found a high level of absenteeism in some middle-class areas.
Last night NEWB chief executive Eddie Ward, stressed that the board would only be pursuing court action against what he termed "hard cases".
The board, he said, was only beginning the legal process in cases where this would be in the interests of the child.
Education sources said the board would not be pursuing parents with serious drug or alcohol problems.
One said: "The board is targeting parents who have the capacity to co-operate with the law, but are clearly negligent in respect of their own children."
The school attendance notices being issued to these parents makes it clear that court action will follow unless their child's attendance record improves significantly.
Mr Ward said the priority for the board was to address the problem in a way which would make a real difference to a child's education.
"The court could consider non-custodial options, like parenting courses or other supports for some parents.
"But the option of a fine or imprisonment must be there for those who are denying their children the right to a proper education," he said.
School attendance rules are now enforced by education welfare officers employed by the NEWB. These have replaced the former system where school attendance officers and gardaí enforced the rules.
