A new Bill has been published today which will change the appeals procedure for seconday school students who have been suspended or expelled for disruptive behaviour.
Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin announced the publication of the Bill which she said "provides for a balancing of rights between a pupil who appeals an expulsion or suspension alongside the rights of the majority of students to learn in the classroom and the right of teachers to be able to teach in a learning environment."
The Bill amends Section 29 of the Education Act 1998 which provides for an appeal procedure for students who have been suspended, expelled or refused enrolment to a school. Appeals are heard by an Appeals Committee appointed by the Minister.
The Bill will amend section 29 by setting out a range of factors which an appeals committee must consider.
It also amends the time limits involved in an appeal and allows the Minister provide for the suspension of the time limit for hearing an appeal during a period when schools are closed.
Procedural changes to the section 29 appeals process are also included.
The new Bill will require an appeals committee to take account of the educational interests of other students in the school, as well as the interests of the student who is the subject of the appeal.
Ms Hanafin went on to say that an appeals committee will have to consider "the reasonableness of efforts made by the school to enable the student to participate and benefit from education, the nature, scale and extent of the students behaviour - where this is an issue - and the safety, health and welfare of teachers, students and staff of the school."
Fine Gael education and science spokesperson Olwyn Enright welcomed the Bill as "a step forward" but said it would "have to be carefully scrutinised to ensure that schools are being given the legislative authority they need to deal with disruptive students."
Ms Enright said that it is "absolutely unacceptable that some schools have been forced to re-enrol seriously disruptive or violent pupils that have been expelled or suspended under the provisions of the 1998 legislation, even in cases where pupils had been expelled for bringing knives to school or threatening or perpetrating violence against teachers or other pupils."