23 November 2004
NEWB to Recruit Additional 10 Staff

The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) got the go-ahead today from the Department of Education and Science to recruit an additional 10 Education Welfare Officers to towns throughout the country, in particular to towns in the west and north of the country.

This will bring the total Board staffing to 94, 83 of whom will be working on the ground, ensuring that children and young people attend school and are receiving an education.

Eight of the new education welfare staff will be located in Sligo, Castlebar, Tuam, Longford, Cavan Town, Tullamore, Portlaoise and Naas. The remaining two posts will be unattached and will be used to meet urgent needs in the service, for example to replace officers on maternity leave or for other long term absences.

"With these new staff we can extend our service to some counties which did not have an officer previously,” explained Eddie Ward, CEO. “It also means that we can provide more support for our existing officers in Sligo and Letterkenny.”

"Our first data on attendance in Ireland, collated by the NEWB over 2003/4 shows that absenteeism is relatively high throughout the country. Our aim is to ensure that we have adequate numbers of officers in all counties in the country so that there is less chance of children missing out on their education.”

Funding for these 10 posts was included in the Board’s budget for 2004. Recruitment ads will be placed in national and local newspapers shortly.

For more information contact:

Edel Hackett
Tel: 087-2935207