Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 November 2006
474 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason children from Blackwater, County Wexford were deemed ineligible for access to school transport services to attend secondary schools in Wexford town; if this policy is under consideration by her Department at present; when new school accommodation will be provided for Kilmuckridge; the number of places that will be provided; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37526/06]
View answerUnder the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme, a pupil is eligible for transport if he or she resides 4.8 kilometres or more from his or her local post primary education centre, that is, the centre serving the catchment area in which he or she 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 their own post primary centre have been catered for.
A number of applications were received for pupils residing in the Blackwater area but these pupils were deemed ineligible for school transport to the Wexford post primary centre because they reside within the Kilmuckridge catchment area. Bus Éireann have advised my Department that the school transport service into Wexford post primary centre is operating to capacity.
A 2,100 m2 extension to Kilmuckridge Vocational College is scheduled for completion by September 2007. This extension has a long term enrolment projection of 200 pupils.
