asked the Minister for Education the minimum age limit at which CIE will accept and be responsible for children under the school transport scheme.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - School Transport.
41.
Mr. O'Malley
It is assumed that the Deputy is referring to national school children. The normal minimum age at which such children would be eligible for conveyance to school is five years. Transport is provided only where certain other basic conditions are fulfilled. Special provision is made in the case of amalgamated schools.
I wonder if the Minister's attention has been directed to the exceptional case where you have a disabled or partially disabled child living within a three-mile radius of the school and where the school bus actually passes on the road and is not permitted under the existing regulations to lift the child? Would the Minister consider any relaxation of that rule to permit discretion to lift such a child?
Mr. O'Malley
I do not think there would be many such cases but we would be glad to give sympathetic consideration to such cases.
42.
asked the Minister for Education if he has yet received any application from the manager of Blarney and Waterloo national schools, County Cork regarding provision of transport for children of tender age who have to travel two, three and in some cases three and a half miles to these schools each day over roads rendered highly dangerous by modern traffic.
Mr. O'Malley
An application for the provision of a transport service for children attending the Blarney and Waterloo national schools was received in my Department recently, and the matter is being investigated.
43.
asked the Minister for Education if he has yet received any application from the manager of Cobh and Rushbrooke national schools, County Cork for provision of transport for children who have to travel two to four miles to these schools each day over roads rendered practically impassable for pedestrians owing to the largely increased employment in industry in the area.
Mr. O'Malley
No such application has been received in my Department.
44.
asked the Minister for Education if, having regard to the increasing burden of bus and train fares on parents of schoolgoing children in Dublin, he will provide free travel facilities for schoolgoing children in Dublin or other assistance to relieve such parents of the burden of paying increased fares for such children when travelling to or from school.
Mr. O'Malley
The underlying principle in providing free transport to schools is to cater for pupils who have excessive distances to travel to the nearest suitable school. Having regard to the number of schools available in the Dublin area, I am satisfied that schoolgoing children in this area and indeed in other urban areas have not excessive distances to travel. I am not prepared, therefore, to provide free travel facilities for pupils in the Dublin area.
I might say that free transport to and from certain city schools is available to children from the Ballyfermot and Finglas districts for whom accommodation is not at present available in their local schools. This is a temporary expedient. Transport, in accordance with the general conditions of the scheme, is being provided for post-primary pupils travelling long distances to schools in Dublin from areas outside the city where there is no school providing free education within a radius of three miles. The City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee operates a free transport scheme under which pupils are brought to the vocational schools at Cabra, Whitehall and Finglas because no accommodation is available at present in their local vocational schools. This again is a transitional measure until sufficient accommodation has been made available.
I would remind the Deputy that CIE already grant concessions to schoolgoing children in the Dublin area.