asked the Minister for Education if he will state the conditions relating to real hardship and very long distance laid down by his Department for grants towards the cost of the purchase of bicycles to enable children to attend school.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bicycle Purchase Grants.
6.
Mr. Kitt
There are no standard definitions of what constitutes "real hardship" or "considerable distance" in the context of bicycle grants. Each case is assessed on its own merits.
Mr. Kitt
In a situation where a school bus is not operating in an area would the Parliamentary Secretary consider that a distance of over three miles would be a very long distance?
I would prefer not to answer hypothetical questions of that nature. Terms have been laid down and in deference to a request made here in the House the terms of the scheme have been inserted in the annual circular being issued to schools in relation to school transport. The requirements are that the child must be living in an isolated area with the nearest national school a considerable distance from his home; that it is not possible, or else too costly, to offer alternative transport facilities and that the situation is also one of genuine hardship. Those terms are fairly generally phrased and it would be preferable not to go into any great detail lest one might not be doing a favour but rather excluding certain cases by stating a particular distance as being the relevant distance. One might just as easily exclude from benefit cases where one might feel that genuine hardship did exist as one would benefit other cases which might not come within the category. It is better to leave it in the general way it is at the moment.
Mr. Kitt
Does genuine hardship refer to distance from the school or the circumstance of the family and the particular student?
They would all be considered.
Mr. Kitt
The circumstances of the family?
All of those factors would be borne in mind. If the family had two or three cars and were able to provide alternative transport themselves with relative ease even though they might be a relatively longer distance from the school than might another family, there might be grounds for considering it in one case and not in the other. That is the approach that we would adopt. If the Deputy has a particular case in mind in his own constituency we certainly will look at it.
Mr. Kitt
The Deputy has a number of cases.
The Deputy has not raised this question before.
Mr. Kitt
I have given details to the Parliamentary Secretary of many cases in my constituency. I would like to ask him how many families have got these grants for provision of bicycles to attend school?
The situation is that, although the scheme was technically in being and was inherited by me, no formal finance sanctioning existed for the scheme. This formal finance sanctioning, which is necessary before any money can be expended, has been obtained since February. Since then grants have been offered in five cases and to date acceptance of the grant has not been indicated in any of these five cases.
The last question asked by Deputy Kitt astonishes me. I appeared on a television programme about school transport and there was a letter from the Department saying that this subsidy for bicycles was available.
A question please, Deputy Callanan.
As a result Deputy Kitt and I were inundated with letters and I have written on two or three occasions——
We are having a statement from the Deputy.
I want to make it clear that according to the Parliamentary Secretary only five have got these subsidies and at the time there was no money there.
I am still awaiting a question.
I was asked on television was there no money available.
I do not know when the Deputy was on a television programme about school transport. I had not the pleasure of seeing him. Therefore, I cannot say whether finance sanctioning existed when the Deputy spoke in public on the matter. However, when I came into office this scheme was technically in being but no sanction existed. I have obtained the sanction and therefore since February we have been in a position to make these grants available, which was not the case previously, if one were to be in order in so doing. If the Deputy is inundated with cases in this matter I am prepared to discuss each one with him.