Father of girl who missed 164 days of school sentenced to 14 days in jail by former Kildare Cllr

The father of a teenage girl who missed 164 days out of 167 from school in a single year has been sentenced at Letterkenny District Court in Donegal.

Judge Paul Kelly, who was a councillor on the Kildare County Council for 11 years and previously operated a solicitors practice in Leixlip, jailed the man after previously warning him about the ramifications if her attendance at school failed to improve, according to the Irish Sun.

Having previously adjourned the case to see if there would be an improvement in the girl's attendance record, the court was told that the girl, who is from the village of Raphoe, had missed three further days of school without a medical certificate to prove she was ill.

The young girl's record of missing 164 days comes from her second year in secondary school, but her solicitor, Niall McWalters, argued that her situation had improved dramatically and she had recently just sat her Junior Cert.

“They have a responsibility to their child to make sure she attends school and receives a proper education," remarked Judge Paul Kelly.

“This does not mean taking her away for weekends or whatever.”

The girl's father was sentenced to 14 days in prison and her mother was fined €500, but he deferred the sentence until October to see if the girl's attendance record would show any notable signs of improvement.