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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 28 May 1963

Vol. 203 No. 2

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Granard (Longford) School Grant.

93.

asked the Minister for Education if he will consider restoring the grant to Granard Protestant school, County Longford, as the nearest Protestant schools are at Edge-worthstown and Ballymachugh, which are distant eight miles and eighteen miles respectively; whether he considers it more economical to provide transport for children for such distances rather than restore the grant so that children may be educated in their own environment; and whether he is aware that, since the closing of the school last November, children who had been attending there have been deprived of education.

The Rules for National Schools provide that, where the average attendance of pupils at any school falls below seven units for two consecutive calendar years, grants are withdrawn from the school. This is what happened in the case of Granard national school.

There are special transport schemes in operation for the bringing of Church of Ireland children to schools of their own denomination. Such a scheme could be operated in the case of Granard at far less cost than maintaining a school for so few pupils.

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