Judge will 'frighten the bejesus' out of brother and sister truants to get them back to school
A judge has given a Halloween warning he will “frighten the bejesus” out of two teenage truants whose mother is facing a possible jail sentence because they missed “chunks” of school.
The case was before Dublin District Court today.
The mother is accused of breaking the Education (Welfare) Act by not complying with official warnings about school attendance.
School attendance notices were sent in October 2017 and November last year in relation to her son and daughter who are in their mid-teens.
Defence solicitor Emer O’Sullivan told the court the south Dublin woman was a “very caring mother and really does her best” and had “two lovely kids”.
She is being prosecuted by the Child and Family Agency (CFA).
But, Ms O’Sullivan added, the teens, were not taking the matter seriously and, she submitted that maybe meeting the judge would help.
The judge replied:
“I would frighten the bejesus out of them.”
Solicitor Stephanie O’Meara, for the CFA, told the court there had been no improvement in the boy and girl’s attendance at their secondary school.
Education and welfare officers were doing their best but the brother and sister, who were not present for the hearing, might need “an extra bit of pressure”, the court was told.
Judge Halpin commented that the only chance of advancement or a career was through education. “Parents”, he remarked, “are under “tremendous pressure, a lot more pressure that when I was a child, with Playstations and video games and whatever, that will sometimes take over”.
The prosecution agreed that huge chunks of school days had been missed, particularly by one of the siblings. Judge Halpin granted an adjournment..
However, he also agreed to the suggestion to speak directly to the pair in the company of an education and welfare officer, the defence solicitor and their mother, when the case resumes on a date in November.
The CFA told the court the education officers will continue to impress on them the importance of the case.
The defence solicitor said she will be able to say “the judge is not impressed by their non-attendance and wants to see them”.
“The day that’s in it, it might work,” Judge Halpin replied.
The minimum school leaving age is 16 years, or the completion of three years of post-primary education.
The penalty on first conviction is a fine of up to €1,000 and a possible one-month sentence per charge.
