Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 18 Jun 2003

Vol. 568 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - School Transport.

Ms McManus:

A school bus has been provided for many years to enable children from Newtownmountkennedy in County Wicklow to travel to schools in Greystones, Bray and Wicklow town. Parents pay to avail of this service and the Department of Education and Science has agreed with Bus Éireann to maintain this service for the next five years to accommodate children currently using it. The majority of children starting secondary school in September have opted to enrol at the new school just built in Kilcoole. However, parents wishing to send their children to the same school as older brothers and sisters or to single-sex schools in Bray or Wicklow are being told that this year's first-year students have to travel to the boundary of the catchment area to catch these buses.

Parents are concerned that their younger children are being put at serious risk by the decision to force children to a point well outside the town if travelling to Bray or to a place called Coyne's Cross in the case of children travelling to Wicklow, while their older brothers and sisters can get on and off the same bus in Newtownmountkennedy main street. The bus passes within minutes of their homes. The children travelling to Wicklow are faced with a problem in that there is no public transport in the morning to get them to Coyne's Cross. Once there the children must stand directly on the N11 as there is no bus stop or lay-by, where they are surrounded by major road works and heavy traffic, rather than waiting safely on the pavement at the bus stop on the main street with their older brothers or sisters to catch the same bus. Parents are asking that since there is room for these children on the buses, and the number of children enrolling in the new school is high, the current transport arrangements should remain in place for all children for as long as the service exists, that is, five more years, to prevent the children being put needlessly at risk. It is a simple request which would cost nothing and set no precedent. What it will do, however, is protect children and ensure their safety in a reasonable and compassionate manner.

The Minister can do the right thing regarding this small number of children. I urge that he cut through the red tape and ensure the bus takes the children from where they live rather than from far out of the town where they will not be protected as they should in a system that is designed to serve their needs, yet is singularly failing to do so in this instance.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science (Miss de Valera):

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the position regarding school trans port for post-primary pupils on the opening of the new community college in Kilcoole.

By way of general comment, I should explain that one of the main objects of the school transport scheme is to provide a basic level of service for children who live long distances from schools and who might otherwise experience difficulty attending regularly. There are 130,000 primary and post-primary pupils using the school transport scheme on a regular basis.

For the purposes of the post-primary education scheme, the country has been divided into catchment areas, each of which has its own post-primary centre. Recognised post-primary pupils who live three miles or more from the post-primary centre of the catchment area in which they live are eligible for transport under the school transport scheme to that centre. Pupils who reside less than three miles from their nearest post-primary centre are ineligible for transport on distance grounds under the terms of the scheme. My Department is not in a position to provide transport for basically ineligible pupils to a school outside their catchment area, contrary to the terms of the school transport scheme.

While it is the parents' democratic right to opt for a choice of school, that does not mean the State is in a position to incur the additional expense entailed in facilitating that choice. To provide for choice of school would add enormously to the costs of the scheme by duplicating transport services all over the place. In such instances, eligible pupils who wish to attend a post-primary centre other than their appropriate one may be allowed transport from within the catchment boundary of the centre being attended. This is subject to spare accommodation being available on an existing service and provided that no additional State cost is incurred. Pupils availing of this concession are known as catchment boundary pupils.

The new community college in Kilcoole will open in September 2003. Pupils currently provided with transport to schools in adjacent catchment areas will continue to be facilitated with transport until they have completed second level education. New pupils enrolling in schools outside the Kilcoole catchment area from September 2003 will not be considered eligible for transport services to these schools. Accordingly, my Department will not be in a position to approve the provision of transport from within the Kilcoole catchment area to an adjacent centre as such an encroachment would constitute an infringement of the terms of the post-primary transport scheme.

My Department has to consider the operation of the school transport scheme as a whole and the requirement not to breach guidelines, which would have financial and policy implications for the transport service overall. The Deputy will appreciate that the provision of a new school in Kilcoole is a major capital investment and my Department does not intend to take any action that might jeopardise the future viability of the school.

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to explain the position to the House.