We tend to lump immigrant children in the one category of non-nationals, but in fact they come from a huge variety of backgrounds and countries.

Asylum-seekers, the most prominent and talked-about immigrants of recent years, constitute only 10 per cent of those who have arrived in Ireland. Because most of them are accommodated in almost 80 reception centres around the State, however, they can have a huge impact on the enrolments in local schools.

The largest reception centre, for example, at Mosney, Co Meath, is home to 92 males, 289 females and 484 children. The difficulty in providing a quality education for this volume of children is exacerbated by the fact that this population is constantly changing, as asylum-seekers are moved about, given refugee status or deported.

Other large concentrations of asylum-seeker children are to be found in Meelick, Co Clare (124), Galway city (114), Salthill (104), Sligo (101) and Athlone (209).

A particular concern in recent years is the arrival in Ireland, seemingly unaccompanied, of relatively large numbers of minors. Some 105 unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers have come here from Nigeria in the past two years.

In addition, some of those deported in recent years have elected to leave some or all of their children behind.