19 October 2007
Schools in Northern Ireland must ask for proof of parents' addresses if there is a 'general knowledge or belief' that some are giving false details, the Department of Education has said.
The guidance follows a judicial review finding that schools have a duty to verify the addresses of pupils.
The court case followed a challenge by the parents of a child refused entry to a post-primary school, when it was believed that several children living in the Irish Republic had been accepted because they gave false addresses in Northern Ireland.
Schools in Northern Ireland can accept children living in the republic only if they have spare places.
Schools have been warned they face legal challenges if they fail to abide by the guidance and could lose grant for pupils found to be using false addresses.
Several thousand pupils living in the Republic are thought to be fraudulently attending schools in Northern Ireland, using relatives' addresses in a practice termed 'grannying'.
PFoct2007
