I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I wish to share my time with Deputy Foley.
Adjournment Debate. - Castleisland (Kerry) School Transport.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Since September 1992 children from the Castleisland area who received their primary education at Gaelscoil Aogáin, the all-Irish primary school in Castleisland, have been attending Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí in Tralee. This has enabled them to continue their education though the medium of Irish. These children have not been provided with what their parents regard as their right, an adequate transport service provided by the Department of Education.
I understand that if seven children from the area were to attend Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí a complete transport service from Castleisland would be provided for them. Seven children attended this school in 1992-93 and this figure increased to ten in the current school year. Projections already forwarded to the Department of Education indicate that that number will continue to grow in the immediate future — a growth of four in 1994, seven in 1995, nine in 1996 and ten in 1997.
The parents regard as unacceptable the Department's offer, which includes the following provisions: (1) in the morning at approximately 7.50 a.m. the students to link up in Castleisland with a bus which provides a service to Tralee schools from Ball Alley Cross, Ballymacelligott, and in the evening the students to travel on a scheduled service to Ball Alley Cross; and (2) a small daily grant towards the extra cost involved between Ball Alley Cross and Castleisland and between outlying areas and Castleisland. This proposed service is neither adequate nor safe.
In the absence of an adequate Department of Education-funded service, a service funded from the resources of Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí has been provided. This has been to the detriment of facilities in the school. The Department of Education has a duty to provide a complete transport service to enable the children to avail of their right to an education through the medium of Irish at Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí. The provision of such a service would be in keeping with the Government's Green Paper on Education which refers to the dependence of second level all-Irish schools on an adequate number of feeder schools.
In disallowing a special service in 1992 when seven children enrolled at Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, the Department argued that the seven pupils were not from one area but from two, Castleisland and Meenganaire, Knocknagashel. The parents regard this argument as totally unreasonable. Of the ten pupils enrolled at present, six come from the Castleisland town area, four from Meenganaire and one from Cordal. The parents consider that the catchment area of Scoil Aogáin constitutes one area and, consequently, the pupils are entitled to transport facilities to Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí. It seems unreasonable for the Department to state that two distinct localities are involved in this issue. Three of the children live four miles from Castleisland but received their primary education with the other four children in Gaelscoil Aogáin in Castleisland. I do not know the criteria used by the Department in determining what constitutes a locality, but this seems to be a very narrow definition.
In refusing to provide a special transport service in 1993, the Department stated: "Given the high costs involved it was not considered reasonable or economic". At present the cost to Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí is £130 per week, less the usual transport charge paid by the pupils. I do not consider a cost of approximately £4,500 per annum unreasonable or uneconomic.
It would make economic sense for the Department to foster and support transport to Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí from the outlying areas where primary Gaelscoileanna are located rather than be faced with demands for the provision of post-primary all-Irish schools in those areas. If the Government is committed to the concept of all-Irish schools then this is a classic case where they should come up with the funding to provide the transport.
I thank Deputy Deenihan for sharing his time with me and endorse the points made by him. Without being repetitive, I believe that the Department of Education has a duty to provide a complete transport service to enable these children to avail of their right to an education through the medium of Irish at Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí. The provision of such a service would be in keeping with the Government's Green Paper on Education.
A further problem arises in regard to four children from the Meenganaire-Knocknagashel area. In 1992 the parents decided that their children, who had completed their national school education through Irish at Gaelscoil Aogáin in Castleisland, should continue their post-primary education at the nearest all-Irish secondary school, that is, Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí in Tralee. They enrolled their children in this school, in which four other children from Castleisland were enrolled. They anticipated that the students would be allowed to travel on the existing bus service to Castleisland, which passes their homes, to link up with the bus to Tralee. They got tickets to travel but, unfortunately, the Castleisland bus would not wait an extra three to five minutes in the evening to facilitate the link up. Therefore, they could not avail of the two way local service, plus their entitlement to tickets. The parents were most disappointed as they rightly believed they were entitled to have their children educated through Irish.
The parents find it hard to believe that no transport service will be provided. They are not seeking a new service. As their children would automatically receive tickets to travel on the local service to a school in Castleisland they believe they are being discriminated against by attending Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí. I appeal to the Minister to resolve this matter. The problem could be resolved if the scheduled service waited an extra three to five minutes in the evening for these pupils.
I thank Deputies Deenihan and Foley for raising this matter.
One of my areas of responsibility is to ensure the safe delivery of approximately 166,000 primary and post-primary pupils throughout the country. I also have the responsibility of ensuring that the State gets the best possible value for the money it expends on the provision of this service on which, in the current year, approximately £39 million will be spent. This figure includes approximately £4 million which Bus Éireann receives in charges from those pupils who are liable for such charges. The main policy aim of the school transport scheme is to facilitate equality of access to primary and post-primary education by providing transport to enable children who might otherwise have difficulty in doing so, attend school regularly.
The post-primary transport scheme is organised, in the first instance, by the transport liaison officer, who is the chief executive officer of the vocational education committee of the county, in co-operation with the school authorities and Bus Éireann. My Department does not make detailed arrangements. This is the responsibility of the transport liaison officers, in conjunction with Bus Éireann.
I should explain that, for the purposes of the post-primary education scheme, the country has been divided into catchment areas, each of which has its post-primary education centre. In order to be eligible for transport, pupils must live at least three miles from the post-primary centre of the catchment area in which they are based.
In the organisation of school transport services, all routes are planned in such a way as to ensure that, as far as possible, every eligible pupil has a reasonable standard of service from the point of view of time-table and distance from the route while, at the same time, ensuring that all vehicles are fully utilised in the most efficient manner.
In order to achieve this, individual vehicles are generally required to operate a number of services to both primary and post-primary schools. This inevitably means that the time-table often requires some pupils to make an early start in the mornings and wait some time in the evenings. This is, and always has been, a feature of the transport schemes throughout the country.
When establishing post-primary services, routes are planned in such a way as to ensure as far as possible that no pupil will have more than three hours travelling and waiting time daily and live no more than three miles from the route of service.
In order to establish and maintain a post-primary transport service a minimum of seven eligible pupils, living in a distinct locality, is required.
Pupils who wish to receive their post-primary education entirely through the medium of Irish may be given transport to the nearest centre in which secondary, vocational, comprehensive or community education through Irish is offered. If they live at least three miles from that centre, that centre may be outside their catchment area.
In 1992, the Department received a request for transport for pupils from the Castleisland catchment to Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí, which is situated in Tralee. Four of the pupils live in Castleisland and three in the Knocknagoshel area, about five miles north of Castleisland. The Department was satisfied that these are two very distinct localities and could not be grouped for the purpose of establishing a service. To do so would have serious implications for the overall operation of both the primary and post-primary transport schemes. There are numerous parts of the country where, if areas were grouped together, it would become necessary to establish expensive services.
Following a review of options, the Department offered a package to provide transport for all on a scheduled service from Castleisland to Tralee, available morning only; provide transport back from Tralee to the catchment boundary, on an existing special service; put on a new service to bring them from the catchment boundary back to Castleisland — the cost of this new service was estimated at £1,440 a year and to pay a group grant of £2.50 a day for the three pupils from Knocknagoshel towards the cost of private transport to get them to and from Castleisland.
That offer was rejected by the parents. They wanted an exclusive service which would run from Knocknagoshel to Castleisland to Tralee and back. The estimated cost of such a service was £8,500 per annum.
In effect, the service requested would have involved a cost in excess of £5,000, over and above the total value of the offer made by the Department.
Bearing in mind that only seven pupils were involved, many other equally deserving demands and constant pressure for economies in the service, the Department would have had great difficulty in justifying concession to this particular demand.
There were suggestions that the number of children offering for transport to Tralee was likely to rise in coming years. The Department felt that it could respond to this increased demand if or when it happened. The Tralee transport liaison officer eventually accepted that the Department was constrained in what it could do. It became possible to increase the group grant of £2.50 a day to £3 per day. The Department also promised that, if there was a significant rise in the number of pupils from the Castleisland area offering for transport, it would be prepared to review the current arrangements.
In the event, the transport liaison officer and the parents decided not to use the package for the remainder of the 1992-93 school year, but to put on their own minibus and claim the £3 daily grant. This was effective for the Easter and summer terms, based on the attendance of the seven pupils in question at the time the grant was paid.
In the 1993-94 school year an application was made for transport for 11 pupils in that school year. The geographic spread in respect of these students is Castleisland, 1992-93: 4, 1993-94: 6; Knocknagoshel, 1992-93: 3, 1993-94: 4; Cordol West, 1992-93: 0, 1993-94: 1.
The distance, for example, between Knocknagoshel and Cordel West is approximately ten miles. The transport liaison officer was informed that the most that could be offered for 1993-94 was the package offered last year, as described. While a minimum number of seven from a distinct locality is required, there were only six from Castleisland offering for transport.
The rules of the scheme state that no special school bus service may be established unless there is a minimum of seven eligible pupils within an area which can be reasonably and economically served by a bus route.
In 1992 the cost of an exclusive service was estimated at £8,500. While the Department appreciates that the present arrangement is far from ideal, it is under severe financial constraint, and would be unable to justify conceding to the parents' demands. However, the situation will be kept under review and, if there is any possibility of an improvement in the service, I will be glad to do so.