A medical grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements may be sanctioned where a pupil is severely medically handicapped, and cannot be accommodated on the ordinary network of school transport. Current rates of payment are attached for the Deputy's information. Where post-primary pupils attend a school outside of their own catchment area, there should be necessitous reasons for doing so, in order for grant-aid to be allowed.
The transport liaison officer has advised my Department that the pupil to whom the Deputy refers is attending a post-primary school outside her own catchment area. The pupil's nearest school is considered suitable for wheelchair users. Accordingly, her parents were asked on 2 September 1998, to confirm whether there are any necessitous reasons for their daughter attending another school outside her own catchment. No reply has yet been received, but the matter will be re-examined in the light of the additional details now submitted by the Deputy.
Rates of Transport (Medical) Grant W.E.F. 1 Sept. 1995.