Vol. 437 No. 6
113 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Education the action, if any, she intends to take to resolve the major difficulties schoolchildren in Kilcoole, County Wicklow, are having in getting to school in Wicklow town as a result of the lack of bus transport; and if she has satisfied herself that the school bus travelling to Wicklow is not overcrowded.
Kilcoole is in the Bray/Greystones catchment area for the purposes of the school transport scheme. However, some parents in Kilcoole wish that their children should attend post-primary school in Wicklow town. Under the terms of the school transport scheme, they are eligible for transport to schools in the Bray/ Greystones post-primary centre.
I am satisfied that there are sufficient seats available on the Wicklow school bus for all pupils eligible under the scheme for transport to Wicklow post-primary centre. The most that can be allowed to pupils living outside of the catchment area is "catchment boundary transport", provided that there is room after all eligible pupils have been accommodated and they make their own way to a recognised pick-up point inside the Wicklow catchment boundary.
