School Attendance Act, 1926

• Permanent Page URL

Minister may dissolve school attendance committees.

14.—(1) If and whenever the Minister is satisfied that a school attendance committee is not duly and effectually discharging its duties under this Act or has refused or wilfully neglected to comply with any provision of this Act or of the regulations made thereunder, the Minister may by order dissolve such committee and shall by such order either:—

(a) appoint a person (in this section called a supervisor) to discharge the duties of such committee, or

(b) with the consent of the Minister for Justice, declare that this Act shall apply to the school attendance area of such committee as if such area was not situate in a county borough or urban district mentioned in the Schedule to this Act, or

(c) make such other provision as he may think proper for the discharge of the duties of such committee.

(2) Whenever the Minister could under the foregoing sub-section dissolve a school attendance committee he may, in lieu of dissolving such committee and making the consequential provisions mentioned in the foregoing sub-section, by order remove from such committee all or any of the members thereof, and whenever any such order is made the vacancies on such committee caused by such removal shall be deemed to be casual vacancies and shall be filled accordingly.

(3) Whenever the Minister by an order under this section appoints a supervisor the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the remuneration and tenure of office of the supervisor shall be fixed by the Minister;

(b) the Minister may at any time remove the supervisor and appoint another person to be supervisor in his place;

(c) all the moneys and assets, liabilities, officers, rights, powers, and duties of the dissolved committee shall by virtue of such order be transferred to and shall vest in, be attached to, or be discharged or performed by the supervisor;

(d) the expenses of the supervisor (including his own remuneration) shall be defrayed in like manner as the expenses of the dissolved committee are required by this Act to be defrayed;

(e) the Minister may by order at any time remove the supervisor and either order the appointment under this Act of a new school attendance committee for the school attendance area of such supervisor and restore to such committee the moneys and other assets, liabilities, officers, rights, powers, and duties of the supervisor, or, with the consent of the Minister for Justice, declare that this Act shall apply to such school attendance area as if it was not situate in a county borough or urban district mentioned in the Schedule to this Act.

(4) Whenever the Minister makes an order under this section declaring that this Act shall apply to a school attendance area as if such area was not situate in a county borough or urban district mentioned in the Schedule to this Act the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) this Act shall apply to such area in accordance with such declaration;

(b) the moneys and assets and the liabilities of the dissolved committee or removed supervisor (as the case may be) shall by virtue of such order be transferred to and vested in or discharged by the council by whom the expenses of such committee or supervisor were defrayed under this Act;

(c) the officers of the dissolved committee or removed supervisor (as the case may be) shall be deemed to have been removed by virtue of such order from office and the council to whom the moneys of such dissolved committee or removed supervisor are transferred—

(i) shall have in respect of the pensionable officers of such dissolved committee or removed supervisor the like powers of superannuation as are conferred by this Act on a school attendance committee, in respect of the officers of such committee, and

(ii) shall pay to the non-pensionable officers of such dissolved committee or removed supervisor compensation in accordance with a scale to be fixed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health after consultation with the Minister for Education, but not exceeding in any case one-tenth of the annual salary of the officer for every completed year of his service, such salary being calculated at the rate of the salary of which the officer was in receipt at the time of the dissolution of the committee or removal of the supervisor (as the case may be);

(d) all expenses incurred by a council in pursuance of this sub-section shall be defrayed out of the rate or fund out of which the expenses of a school attendance committee are to be defrayed under this Act.

(5) Whenever a school attendance committee appointed under the Irish Education Act, 1892, which should under this Act become the first school attendance committee of a school attendance area is at the commencement of this Act either not in existence or not properly constituted, such first school attendance committee shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to have come into existence under this Act and may be deemed by the Minister at any time after the passing of this Act not to be discharging its duties under this Act duly and effectually and may be dissolved under this section accordingly.