Vol. 457 No. 7
221 Mr. E. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the hardship being imposed on a family (details supplied) in County Cork whose son is attending a special school and who is now unable to be collected and dropped off at his home by the school bus and thus missing out on vital rehabilitation time. [16249/95]
I am aware of the difficulty to which the Deputy refers.
The individual in question is attending the Brothers of Charity adult workshop in Lota, Cork. Overall responsibility for transport arrangements to this facility rests with the Southern Health Board and I have arranged for the matter to be brought to the board's attention.
For some time now, transport on an incidental basis has been made available to the individual in question on a school transport route. This arose because there was space on the service in question.
However, earlier this year this school bus service was reorganised to facilitate pupils attending special schools in Cork. As a result of this, the service no longer passes the home of the individual in question and, in order to avail of transport on an incidental basis, he now has to travel to a pick-up point near his home.
Also, due to an increase in the number of pupils availing of the reorganised school bus service on Mondays and Fridays, there is no space on the bus for the individual in question on Monday mornings and Friday evenings. However, transport on an incidental basis continues to be available Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week.
