The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), the agency set up to ensure regular school attendance, has been called in to try to find secondary school places for four children in Galway city.
However, Fine Gael councillor Fidelma Healy Eames has called on Minister for Education Mary Hanafin to intervene and says there may be other children in Galway city experiencing similar difficulties three weeks into the first term.
Cllr Healy Eames says the Minister must direct schools to ensure that children from all backgrounds and abilities are accepted into second level.
Cllr Healy Eames became aware of the situation in Galway city after she was contacted by the Society of St Vincent de Paul and a primary school in relation to the inability of a 12-year-old boy to find a secondary place. She was also aware that three other families were finding it difficult to secure a place in the school of their choice.
Cllr Healy Eames said the child's parents had applied within the required time for a place in a school on the city's west side. The secondary school, which the child's older siblings have been attending, told the parents that it had 102 applicants for 90 places in first year, and had no room.
The parents appealed to the Department of Education and were told the school had followed its admissions procedure correctly. The family tried three other secondary schools and were told their child was sixth on the waiting list in one school and was also on the waiting list for another.
Cllr Healy Eames described the situation as a "major educational injustice" and said it was incumbent upon the State to find places.
The Department of Education said the matter was one for the NEWB. An NEWB spokeswoman told The Irish Times its staff was already working with the families of two 12-year-olds and details of home tuition had been given as a short-term measure. This week it had received two more referrals in relation to children who had moved to Galway recently.
The spokeswoman said there did not appear to be a shortage of places in the Galway area in general.
