A Chara, - Kitty Holland's telling article (March 14th) on the poor resources available to the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) deserved better than the accompanying soft-focus photograph of Minister for Education Mary Hanafin surrounded by giggling children. The fact that the NEWB can only deal with 10 per cent of the school absentee cases placed before it is a scandal. Not only that, but the Government has failed to employ even one third of the recommended 300 educational welfare officers required, leaving three entire counties - Cavan, Leitrim and Roscommon - without any service at all. The Minister's response to this crisis is not to improve resources available to the NEWB but merely to produce a leaflet informing parents of their responsibilities in relation to education! This is the same Minster who constantly tells us that the reason the Government reneged on its commitment on class sizes was in order to prioritise special needs and educational disadvantage. - Is mise,
Cllr AODHÁN Ó RÍORDÁIN,
Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin,
Clonliffe Avenue,
Dublin 3.