The Department of Social Protection writes 600,000 "unnecessary" letters to parents to confirm their children are in school, replicating the work of another agency, the Dáil has heard.
Independent TD Denis Naughten said that in this "bizarre process", the department "is using enough paper to cover Croke Park 2.5 times by duplicating a system already in place" and creating significant unnecessary bureaucracy.
Speaking in the debate on the Social Welfare Bill, he said this work was undertaken by the National Educational Welfare Board.
The two agencies operated in a “silo”, not communicating with each other and leading to needless bureaucracy and spending.
The Longford-Westmeath TD noted parents cannot legally draw down the child benefit payment unless their children are attending school. However, this link is not enforced.
Mr Naughten, who has consistently highlighted the issue of linking child benefit with children’s school attendance, said a school principal is legally obliged to report a child who has missed 20 days in school if there isn’t a legitimate reason for the absence.
But he said by writing the letters the department is duplicating the welfare board’s system and so “curbing the achievement of additional savings that could be made in the department”.
Major benefit
Mr Naughten said there could be a major benefit not just in administrative savings and those related to overpayments and fraud but also in long-term savings by identifying children in vulnerable households and ensuring they attend school.
He highlighted a case in the educational welfare board’s annual report where the parents of a six-year-old girl were brought to court after she had been absent from school for 65 days, following visits to the home, letters and eventually legal threats.
He said the mother was fined €200 and the father €300 and the child has attended school since the court case. But he asked: “Was that a good use of the limited social work resources available to the National Educational Welfare Board, the State’s legal resources or the court’s time?”
The Government must use the limited resources available “in a wiser way” to benefit such children not attending school.
He called on Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton to seriously examine the issue and link the Departments of Education, Social Protection and the National Education Welfare Board.
