A judge told the parents of a school-shy teenager on Friday they could bring their toothbrushes home after a threat of jail was lifted.
Judge Patrick Durcan made the direction at Ennis District Court after hearing the couple’s 14-year-old daughter had fully attended at school since he threatened them with jail earlier in the week.
At the court on Wednesday, Judge Durcan had told the two to bring their overnight bags to court on Friday in case their daughter’s school attendance record did not improve.
Addressing the mother, Judge Durcan had said: “Unless your daughter is at school tomorrow - and today - she will pay the penalty by not having parents on Friday.”
In court on Friday, solicitor for the Child and Family Agency, Kevin Sherry, told the court the girl had attended school each day since.
Judge Durcan called the parents forward to the judge’s bench and said: “Did you bring the little bags I told you to bring with the toothbrushes and all of that?” They replied “Yes”.
‘Bring them home’
He said: “The good news is that you can bring them home.
“It may not be your fault, it may be the fault of the child and I appreciate the difficulties of rearing a 14-year-old in this day and age with this gadget and all the other gadgets and influences coming in that you know nothing about.”
He added: “The fact that this case in listed here for today is costing the country a fortune.”
Judge Durcan warned the parents that “should it be that your daughter doesn’t attend any of the days of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week, before the holidays, you will be here with your toothbrushes on Friday.”
The third year student has presented with an absentee rate of 77.9 per cent to December last, where she missed 53 out of 68 school days.
