Irish Education Act 1892
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1892 c. 42 |
| Year | 1892 |
Irish Education Act, 1892.
(55 & 56 Vict) CHAPTER 42.
An Act to improve National Education in Ireland.
[27th June 1892]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Compulsory Education.
1 Duty of parent to send child to school.
(1)1.—(1.) In every place to which this section applies, the parent of every child not less than six nor more than fourteen years of age shall cause the child to attend school during such number of days in the year and for such time on each day of attendance as are prescribed in the First Schedule to this Act, unless there is a reasonable excuse for non-attendance.
(2) (2.) Provided that a child over eleven years of age shall not be required to attend school if the child has received such certificate of his proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, as is prescribed in the Second Schedule to this Act.
(3) (3.) Any of the following reasons shall be a reasonable excuse for non-attendance of a child; namely,
(a .) That there is not within two miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the residence of the child any national school or other efficient school at which the child can attend, and to which the parent of the child does not object, on religious grounds, to send the child;
(b .) That the child has been prevented from attending school by sickness, domestic necessity, or by reason of being engaged in necessary operations of husbandry and the ingathering of crops, or giving assistance in the fisheries, or other work requiring to be done at a particular time or season, or other unavoidable or reasonable cause;
(c .) That the child, being under seven years of age, lives at too great a distance from any national school or other efficient school which he can attend, even though that distance is less than two miles;
(d .) That the child is receiving suitable elementary education in some other manner.
2 Prohibition of employment of children required to attend school.
(1)2.—(1.) A person shall not, except as in this Act mentioned, take into his employment in any place to which this section applies, any child, except for the setting or planting potatoes, hay-making, or harvesting—
(i.) who is under the age of eleven years; or
(ii.) who, being of the age of eleven years or upwards, and less than fourteen years of age, has not obtained such certificate of his proficiency in reading, writing, and elementary arithmetic, as is prescribed in the Second Schedule to this Act, unless the child is employed and is attending school in accordance with the Factory and Workshop Acts, 1878 to 1891, but no employer shall compel a child to attend a school to which its parent objects on religious grounds.
(2) (2.) If any person acts in contravention of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding forty shillings.
3 School attendance committee.
(1)3.—(1.) In every place to which this section applies there shall be a school attendance committee consisting of six, eight, or ten persons, as the local authority of the place may determine, one-half of whom shall be appointed by the local authority and the remainder by the Commissioners, and not less than one-half of whom shall, where such persons are available, be managers or patrons of schools in the place, and the local authority shall make regulations subject to the approval of the Commissioners as to the time and mode of appointment of the committee and the conduct of their proceedings. The term for which the members of the committee shall hold office and the quorum of the committee shall be as prescribed in the Third Schedule to this Act.
(2) (2.) Subject to the approval of the Commissioners after a public inquiry if they shall think fit, the local authority of any place may for the purposes of this Act divide the place into districts, and in such case a school attendance committee shall be appointed for each district in manner herein-before provided.
(3) (3.) The school attendance committee may appoint and remove officers and prescribe their duties, and, with the approval of the local authority, fix their remuneration.
(4) (4.) In the event of the local authority, after warning and reasonable notice, failing to exercise any power, or perform any duty conferred or imposed on them by the preceding part of this section, the same may be exercised or performed by the Commissioners.
(5) (5.) The expenses of a school attendance committee, and the salaries and expenses of their officers, shall be defrayed by the local authority out of the local rate, but any revenue from penalties under this Act in the place or district shall be applied in relief of the local rate.
4 Attendance orders and enforcement thereof.
(1)4.—(1.) If any parent who is required by this Act to cause his child to attend school makes default without reasonable excuse in so doing, the school attendance committee shall, after due warning to the parent, make a complaint to a court of summary jurisdiction, unless they think that it is inexpedient to take such proceedings, and the court, if satisfied of the truth of the complaint, may make an order (in this Act called an attendance order) that the child do attend, in accordance with the requirements of this Act, some national school or other efficient school, and, subject to the provisions of section one of this Act, the child shall attend some such school in such regular manner as is specified in the order.
(2) (2.) If the school attendance committee have reason to believe that an attendance order has not been complied with, and that there is not any reasonable excuse within the meaning of this Act for non-compliance therewith, they may make a further complaint to a court of summary jurisdiction, and thereupon, if the parent does not satisfy the court that the order has been complied with, or that he has used all reasonable efforts to comply therewith, the court may impose on him a fine not exceeding, including costs, five shillings.
(3) (3.) A complaint under this section with respect to a continuing non-compliance with an attendance order shall not be repeated by the school attendance committee at any less interval than two months.
5 Exception to prohibition of employment of children.
5. A person shall not be deemed to have taken a child into his employment in contravention of this Act, if it is proved to the satisfaction of the court having cognisance of the case, either—
(1) that during the employment there is not within two miles, measured according to the nearest road, from the residence of the child, any national school or other efficient school which the child can attend, subject to the provisions of section one of this Act; or
(2) that the employment, by reason of being during the school holidays, or during the hours during which the school is not open, or otherwise, does not interfere with the efficient elementary instruction of the child, and that the child obtains such instruction by attendance, in accordance with the requirements of this Act, at a national school, or in some other equally efficient manner.
6 Exemption.
(1)6.—(1.) Where the offence of taking a child into employment in contravention of this Act is in fact committed by an agent or workman of the employer, that agent or workman shall be liable to a fine as if he were the employer.
(2) (2.) Where a child is taken into employment in contravention of this Act on the production by or with the privity of the parent of a false or forged certificate, or on the false representation of his parent that the child is of an age at which the employment is not in contravention of this Act, that parent shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding forty shillings.
(3) (3.) Where an employer charged with taking a child into his employment in contravention of this...
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