Offaly has country’s highest rate of school absences

One in every six Offaly children was absent from primary school for more than 20 days in the academic year, according to most recent figures. It's the highest rate of absences from primary school in any county in the country. The shock finding is included in a new Department of Health report entitled ‘The State of the Nation's Children - Ireland 2010' published days before Christmas. The report found that 16.6% of primary school children in Offaly were absent from school for 20 days or more in the school year 2007/2008 - significantly ahead of the national average of 12.1%. The lowest rate of absenteeism was 8.1%, recorded in Monaghan. At secondary school level, more than one in five Offaly children were missing for 20 days or more. The 20.7% rate is the country's joint fifth highest. The highest rate at secondary school level was recorded in Laois at 23.6%. The national average is 19.2%. The report also revealed that children in the Midlands region are three times more likely to be at risk of poverty than children in the Dublin region. And, across the 32 HSE local health offices, Laois/Offaly had the second highest number of cases that went to initial assessment for child welfare and protection concerns. There were 1,046 child welfare and protection reports sent for assessment in this region in 2008 - comprising 161 cases of possible neglect, 90 of possible emotional abuse, 74 of possible sexual abuse, 135 of possible physical abuse and 586 described as “welfare†concerns. The 1,046 accounted for 6.8% of the entire reports produced across the country. Only neighbouring Longford/Westmeath had a higher number of welfare and protection reports. However, the number of confirmed child abuse cases in Laois/Offaly in 2008 represented a small percentage of those sent for initial assessment. Some 46 confirmed cases of child abuse were recorded in Laois/Offaly in 2008. These included 22 involving neglect, four of emotional abuse, five for sexual abuse and 15 for physical abuse. The report also revealed that Offaly had one of the lowest proportion of births to mothers aged 17 and under. There were five such births recorded in 2009.