A Limerick mother has avoided jail after successfully appealing a prison sentence for failing to send three of her nine children to school.
The appeal at Limerick Circuit Court comes exactly a week after jail sentences of one and two weeks were handed down in Co Limerick to five different sets of parents over issues of truancy.
Agreeing to suspend the jail term imposed on the mother of nine, Judge Tom O’Donnell said he faced a dilemma of having to weigh up jailing the woman for breaking the law with the need to provide stability for her children.
Last July, the woman was given a 14-day jail sentence at Limerick District Court for three breaches of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 for failing to send her three oldest children to school.
Periods of truancy
She appealed the severity of the sentence at Limerick Circuit Court on Tuesday, where Judge O’Donnell was told the eldest of the nine children, a boy now aged 16, has missed every school day of the current school year, and had long periods of truancy over the previous two school years.
Solicitor for Tusla the Child & Family Agency, Muiris Gavin, said the case also related to a 14-year-old sister and 11-year-old brother who have also had long absences from school over similar periods.
Mr Gavin said that despite huge resources being allocated to the family, and a number of court adjournments and opportunities, matters had not improved and there were fears for the other children.
According to evidence given by welfare officers with Tusla, the boy missed 122 out of 183 school days during 2013/14 and in 2014/15 missed 95 of 182 school days.
Long absences
In summary, the court heard, there had been long absences over three school years in respect of the woman’s three eldest children.
Defence counsel Eimear Carey said the mother was “struggling on her own” with regard to the education of her children.
She explained there was a “complex and volatile” relationship with the father of the children and when things were going well, there was an improvement.
Addressing the mother of nine, Judge O’Donnell remarked that being a mother of a large family “was not a defence as to her responsibilities” but he agreed to suspend the three concurrent jail sentences for 12 months.
Children’s future
“It is your children’s future that is at stake and a lack of education will cost them in life,” he said.
Last week at Newcastle District Court, jail sentences of one and two weeks were handed down to five different sets of parents after they were convicted of failing to send their children to school.
Four of the cases involved Traveller families in Rathkeale, while the fifth was described as of a settled Traveller background in Abbeyfeale.