The government’s reaction to the school attendance crisis is déjà vu disguised as innovation, according to Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins.
Deputy Cummins, who’s the party’s education spokesperson, said:
“Let’s be clear: this crisis didn’t come out of nowhere – for years, the School Completion Programme ran effective, community-based attendance monitoring and promotion in DEIS schools.
“These were proven supports that worked across whole-school populations, not just with high-risk students. But funding cuts and structural changes under Tusla’s Education Support Service forced programmes to scrap these roles, piece by piece.
“The erosion of Attendance Promoters and Monitors began gradually, first reduced to working only with students on ‘target lists,’ and eventually phased out altogether in many SCPs as funding dried up or was redirected.
“Some staff moved on, some programmes couldn’t afford to continue, and none of it was backed up by Tusla or the Department – now the Department of Education is piloting a new attendance strategy that mirrors almost exactly what SCPs were doing a decade ago.
“It’s beyond frustrating. It’s déjà vu.
“Many dedicated School Completion Coordinators continued working on attendance strategies, despite the collapse of dedicated supports – but the government’s short-term memory and failure to protect long-standing, effective community programmes has been deeply damaging.
“We’re being told this is a new initiative. It’s not. It’s the resurrection of a strategy that was working until the State pulled the rug out from under it and school communities were left picking up the pieces.
“When students miss school, they fall behind in learning. That affects their confidence, their wellbeing, and ultimately their chances of completing their education.
“Attendance is not just a number – it’s a lifeline. The fact that this Government is only waking up to that now, after stripping away the very teams that were tackling the issue, is not good enough.
“There must be immediate reinvestment in the School Completion Programme, with restored funding for attendance-specific roles across all DEIS schools, and accountability for the policy decisions that created the current crisis.
“We need sustained funding, not pilot projects. We need to trust and empower the people who’ve been doing this work for years – not pretend we’ve just discovered a solution.”
May 19th, 2025