Woman who let her son stay at home playing computer games when he should have been in school has been fined €500

A WOMAN who let her son stay at home playing computer games when he should have been in school has been fined €500.

Dublin District Court heard the 15-year-old had already been told his mother could be jailed, but he still refused to go to school.

Dorothy Ware, solicitor for the Child and Family Agency (CFA), told Judge John O'Neill that since the teenager was warned by the court on an earlier date, his school attendance has become worse.

The boy had been assessed and found to have no mental health problems.

A doctor was of the view that the school attendance problem "was with his mother's permission". There had been attendance issues with an older sibling and the CFA felt "there was a level of apathy there".

care

The mother twice accepted that she did not make the boy stay at school and allowed him to "stay at home playing computer games".

She claimed she had tried to get him to go to school "but I cannot hold his hand".

She also agreed he knew it could lead to her being jailed, but he did not care.

Judge O'Neill said he did not want to fine her or send her to jail, but he could not have her going home telling her son the judge did nothing.

He ordered that the fine must be paid within four months or the mother will be jailed for seven days in default.

hnews@herald.ie