The mother of a teenage girl narrowly escaped jail when her daughter refused to go back to secondary school.
But Judge Hughes warned the teenager that she will get out of bed and go to school every day.
He said she will not be a burden on the State until she’s at least 18.
“I’m going to send you to school or your mother is going to prison,” he said, pointing out that the only thing she will get for nothing in this country is her education.
The woman was being prosecuted by the National Education Welfare Board for failing to send the girl to school, but the court heard the 16 year old didn’t want to go.
While she had a 100 per cent record at the end of last term, she has yet to begin the new school year.
Her mother referred to a number of difficulties, including non-receipt of a uniform grant, illness, and a desire to enrol in Youthreach to explain her daughter’s absence, but the girl eventually said she wouldn’t go.
However, Judge Hughes had little patience with her evidence that there had been one incident last year which didn’t continue.
“Is that a big enough reason - that you were bullied once?” he asked and adjourned the case briefly to allow solicitor Louis Kiernan speak to the woman and her daughter.
“I’m not getting through to her,” he told the solicitor, adding that “she had a 100 per cent record and I’ll ensure she has a 100 per cent record”.
After a brief time they returned to court with a commitment that the girl will attend, but the judge said this is not enough.
He advised her to listen to her teachers, apply herself in school, and do her homework.
“It’s important you make reasonable progress,” he said.
He noted that two other girls whose parents were being prosecuted for similar offences were doing well.
“You’re entitled to the same opportunities in life - why should you be left behind?” he asked, adjourning the case to September 23.
