School Transport.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 December 2005

Thursday, 15 December 2005

Questions (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)

Seán Crowe

Question:

32 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if it is her Department that sets out and administers the catchment boundary areas for school transport. [39155/05]

Martin Ferris

Question:

35 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Education and Science if changes have been made in the past 30 years to the catchment areas for school transport eligibility. [39159/05]

Seán Crowe

Question:

42 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if there have been changes to the catchment boundary areas for school transport in terms of the way in which they have been traditionally interpreted. [39154/05]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

47 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the case where her Department stepped in to tell the vocational educational committee it was wrong in its interpretation of the catchment boundary areas. [39161/05]

Arthur Morgan

Question:

71 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the cases where the vocational educational committee has said the catchment boundary covers one area and her Department has said it covers another. [39156/05]

Arthur Morgan

Question:

73 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for Education and Science if her Department had to correct any catchment boundary areas which were incorrect; and if so, the reason therefor. [39157/05]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

75 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Education and Science if her Department has no responsibility for the catchment area boundaries. [39160/05]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Science (Ms Hanafin)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 32, 35, 42, 47, 71, 73 and 75 together.

Catchment boundaries have their origins in the establishment of free post-primary education in the late 1960s and were determined following consultation with local educational interests. For planning purposes the country was divided into geographical districts each with several primary schools feeding into a post-primary centre with one or more post-primary schools. The intention was and continues to be that these defined districts facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs.

Reviews of specific catchment boundaries may be carried out where appropriate. A number of reviews have been carried out over the years 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.

The area development planning initiative, involving an extensive consultative process carried out by the commission on school accommodation, will also inform future revisions to catchment areas. An area development plan takes account of demographic changes and projects future enrolments for existing schools and new schools if required. Catchment boundary changes will be made where the implementation of the recommendations in an area development plan requires such adjustments. Catchment boundaries have provided and continue to provide a very useful tool in facilitating the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs and the operation of the national school transport service.

Under the terms of my Department's post-primary school transport scheme, a pupil is eligible for transport if she or he resides 4.8 km or more from her or his local post-primary education centre, that is, the centre serving the catchment area in which she or he lives. The scheme is not designed to facilitate parents who choose to send their children to a post-primary centre outside of the catchment area in which they reside.

However, children who are fully eligible for transport to the post-primary centre in the catchment area in which they reside may apply for transport on a concessionary basis to a post-primary centre outside of their own catchment area — otherwise known as catchment boundary transport. These children can only be facilitated if spare seats are available on the bus after all other eligible children travelling to the post-primary centre in the catchment area in which they reside have been catered for. Children have to make their own way either to the catchment boundary or to the nearest pick up point within that catchment area.

The transport liaison officers, TLOs, administer the school transport scheme for post-primary schools at local level in consultation with school authorities and Bus Éireann. These officers report directly to my Department in so far as school transport is concerned. The vocational education committees do not have a direct function in the matter.

My Department is aware of a recent case where the map retained in the TLO's office varied with the map held in my Department's planning section. A copy of the Department's map has been forwarded to the TLO for the purpose of establishing eligibility under the terms of the school transport scheme.