I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, to the House. Is it permissible for me to share my time with Senator Brennan?
School Transport.
That is permissible.
The Salesian College in Pallaskenry in County Limerick and the parents of its pupils were notified in July 2005 that the school transport facility, primarily for the Ballybrown and Clarina area, would not apply to first year pupils from September 2005 on. The parents were stunned by the announcement as they had enrolled their children for the school in November 2004. Over the last 15 years, a shared catchment area existed between city schools and Pallaskenry. The Department's decision has impacted on 34 first year pupils in Pallaskenry. Where is the logic in the Department of Education and Science supporting a considerable improvement in the Salesian College, Pallaskenry, in 2000 and then cutting off its potential student resource in the future by withdrawing school transport for first year pupils? Even if the pupils in the western side of the city had access to schools there they cannot get access to them. What is the point of exacerbating a bad traffic situation in the Limerick city area?
When the parents discovered the directive in late July 2005 they were furious. Several meetings were held with politicians during the month of August to outline their frustration and request appropriate action. This was followed by proactive pressure on Ministers in the mid-west to persuade the Department of Education and Science to recognise the unique situation that prevailed and accede to the provision of transport for first year pupils. Despite protesting outside the Minister's own office, a subsequent meeting with her in Ennis and a bus journey with her to Ballyconnell in Cavan, in an attempt to highlight the issue with the Taoiseach, they have been unsuccessful and remain bitterly disappointed that the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, has not issued a directive to the Department's officials requesting them to accommodate them.
The decision by the Department has fostered much bitterness in the area and has caused great inconvenience to both parents and pupils. Should the Department not change the decision then future implications for the college could be serious. It could lead to a reduction in first year pupils with parallel consequences for teachers and courses. This is an excellent school and I hope that sanity will prevail in the Minister's reply and that she will accede, as an injustice has been done in this case. The parents and pupils have been shabbily treated by the Department. The Minister should reverse the decision and allow school transport to be provided for the first year pupils who are currently deprived of this facility. I await her response.
I support Senator Finucane and ask the Minister to look compassionately at this unique situation, going back to 2001 where there were pupil-teacher ratio problems in the Limerick city catchment area resulting in pupils being allowed to go to Pallaskenry.
As Senator Finucane has said, many meetings were held during the summer and it is time to find a solution. I believe that since the meetings took place the liaison officer on Limerick County Council, Mr. Seán Burke, has found additional places for 12 pupils owing to the Church of Ireland school in Adare having a larger bus which was able to be rerouted. It is possible at this late stage that when the final figures are received from Bus Éireann tomorrow additional places will be found but Bus Éireann has put on an additional bus returning from Pallaskenry since the start of the school term. The problem is not financial as it would only cost €19,000 for a morning bus. It is a unique situation where 50% of the pupils come from outside the Pallaskenry catchment area. The college in Pallaskenry would be non-viable without those pupils. The situation was reviewed in 2001 and I ask the Minister to maintain the status quo and review the situation at year end with a view to arriving at a final outcome. It would be in everyone’s interest for the pupils to be facilitated.
I welcome this opportunity to outline to the Seanad my position regarding school transport to the Salesian College, Pallaskenry and Scoil Mhuire, Askeaton, County Limerick. 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 in attending regularly.
Some 138,000 primary and post-primary pupils use the school transport scheme on a regular basis. The allocation for school transport in 2005 is €116.533 million which is an increase of 6% on last year's outturn. Approximately 30% of the allocation will be expended this year on transport costs and grant aid for children with special needs, who represent approximately 6% of the total number of children carried each day.
For the purposes of post-primary education provision, the country is divided into catchment areas, each of which has its own post-primary centre. Under the terms of the post-primary school transport scheme, a pupil is eligible for school transport if he or she resides 4.8 km, three miles, or more from the post-primary centre in the catchment area in which they live. A post-primary centre is not necessarily a school building. It is usually a central point in the catchment area to which the distance from home is measured.
Eligible pupils who wish to attend post-primary schools in another catchment area may be allowed transport on school services from within the catchment boundary of the centre being attended, subject to room being available on the school transport service and there being no additional cost to the State. The pupils themselves are responsible for getting to the nearest school bus service within that catchment area.
An eligible pupil who is approved for catchment boundary transport is not guaranteed school transport for the duration of his or her education at that centre. As a concessionary measure, continued transport will depend on the availability of space on the school service to that centre each school term.
A large number of pupils who reside in the Limerick city catchment area have been provided with full transport facilities to the Salesian College, Pallaskenry, because of difficulties encountered in previous years in securing placements in certain schools in Limerick city. A smaller number of such pupils were provided with full transport to Scoil Mhuire, Askeaton, for the same reason.
However, as a result of the introduction of the Central Applications Facility for the allocation of places in Limerick city post-primary schools for the current school year, it became apparent that there were enough places in the city for all applicants from the catchment. Every child who applied for a place got one, and 95% received offers from one of their first three preferences. In the circumstances, it was decided to discontinue the practice of offering a special service to new catchment boundary pupils travelling to Pallaskenry and Askeaton. Existing passengers were reassured that they would have a place for the rest of their schooling, but new applicants were told they would have to be treated the same as catchment boundary applicants in other parts of the country. Catchment boundary transport will continue to be available to pupils enrolling inthe Salesian College, Pallaskenry, and ScoilMhuire, Askeaton, subject to the terms of the scheme.
I do not propose to reverse my decision, which was made following a full assessment of all relevant factors. On the issue of catchment boundaries, there have been calls for local and general reviews of these boundaries to enable pupils to be accommodated with school transport to attend a school of their choice. I should explain that catchment boundaries have their origins in the establishment of free post-primary education in the late 1960s. For planning purposes, the country was divided into geographic districts, each with several primary schools feeding into a post-primary centre with one or more post-primary schools. The intention was that these defined districts would facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs. They also facilitated the provision of a national school transport service, enabling children from remote areas to get to their nearest school. While the service has been developed over the years to take account of linguistic and denominational considerations in the matter of school choice, it was never the intention that such choice would be unlimited. Clearly, the cost of operating such a scheme would be unsustainable, especially in the context of competing demands, including the major safety programme we are implementing at present. It is reasonable for parents to exercise educational choice.
However, expectation as to the extent to which choice can be facilitated must be tempered with realism. A review of catchment boundaries may be appropriate where, for example, a new post-primary school is established in an area where previously there was none or, conversely, where a sole provider school closes due to declining enrolment.
To revise boundaries in order to provide school transport for pupils to their school of choice would not be appropriate and it is not my intention to undertake such reviews. Any other approach would make it impossible to operate the school transport service on a cost-effective basis and could well give rise to additional costs related to additional teacher posts and accommodation.
I am very disappointed with the Minister of State's response as I believed that she empathized with the parents. In this case, pupils got very little notice from the Department of Education and Science as they were contacted in July. This could be a factor in a decision to make an exception in this case. I am disappointed, as will the parents and pupils in the area.
I wish to enter in the record a letter that was sent out by the Department in 2001. A commitment was given at that stage that no changes would take place until discussions occurred with interested bodies.
That is not a question.
If bus transport is being provided out of Pallaskenry in the evening where surplus transport is available, it would not be an additional cost to the Exchequer. I ask the Minister of State that if a commitment was made that no changes would come about until a review of the catchment boundaries, whether the commitment made by the Department has been reneged upon.
The situation has changed since 2001. It has been clear since 2003 that change was coming about because of the positions of placements within schools. The central applications facility is now in place. The reason for having this service until now in Limerick was because the parents could not find places for their children within the Limerick area. This is no longer the case due to the central applications facility. We are now giving the opportunity to children already on that bus to continue their education using the bus facility. However, it will no longer continue for first-year students because it is an anomaly. It is a unique situation made for Limerick given the circumstances that exist nowhere else in the country. That situation has now changed and the matter will revert to what occurs everywhere else in the country.
The Seanad adjourned at 7.55 p.m until10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 29 September 2005.