The attendance in school by thousands of primary and secondary school pupils is not being checked in most parts of the State because of industrial relations problems and delays in getting a new agency up and running.
The traditional task performed by school attendance officers and the Garda of checking that all primary pupils have transferred to second level is also not being done in most parts of the State.
Thousands of pupils are believed to be absent from school without good reason every day. The problem is particularly acute in socially deprived areas, where some schools have almost 30 per cent non-attendance rates.
School managers and principals have expressed concern that nobody has been tackling the problem since school term began earlier this month.
Mr George O'Callaghan of the Joint Managerial Body (JMB), which represents hundreds of schools, said principals found it difficult to find anyone to deal with attendance problems. "The whole thing seems to be in limbo at present," he said.
Since July, an Education Welfare Board has been responsible for truancy, but it has been beset by industrial relations and recruitment problems. Previously the problem was the responsibility of the local authorities in city areas and the Garda in rural areas.
To be fully operational, the new board needs to recruit 200 welfare officers but none has been recruited, although an interim chief executive, Mr Eddie Ward, has been appointed.
The delays in recruitment have been matched by problems with industrial relations. About 36 existing attendance officers, formerly employed by the local authorities, are angry with how their transfer to the new board has been handled.
A pay offer made to them in recent days looks set to be rejected. They have also raised concerns about whether they have sufficient legal powers to carry out their work for the new board.
Ms Fidelma Collins, who represents these attendance officers, declined to comment on the situation, although she said that in her area, Cork, some work to combat truancy was taking place.
Several principals, particularly in Dublin, have encountered serious problems in the past few days. Some of them have contacted the JMB, while others have contacted the former local authority attendance officers.
Mr Ward admitted there was "a void" at present in some parts of the State. However, he said the Department of Education was there to deal with any persistent non-attendance problems.
He said the board would shortly begin recruiting senior staff and then a panel of education welfare officers would be put together.
He accepted there were problems getting the former local authority attendance officers to become part of the new service.
"It is an apprehensive time for them," he said, adding that the new board was in "start-up phase" and was trying to get organised as fast as possible. He said he remained confident the 36 existing attendance officers would accept the offer made to them and participate fully in the new service.