Vol. 435 No. 8
19 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education if she will extend the free school transport service to the village of Johnstownbridge, Enfield, County Kildare to facilitate children attending Edenderry vocational school and secondary school as opposed to the present system of collecting students more than a mile away; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Under the terms of the post-primary school transport scheme, the children of Johnstownbridge village are eligible for transport to Longwood post-primary centre.
However, some parents from the locality wish to send their children to Edenderry post-primary centre. They are not eligible for transport to this centre, which is in another catchment area. Consequently, the most they can be offered by my Department is concessionary transport from the catchment boundary of their appropriate school. This may be allowed, provided seats are available on an existing service after all eligible pupils have been accommodated and that no extra cost is incurred, either by way of using a larger or extra bus, or by re-routing an existing service.
