asked the Minister for Education if he will amend the regulations so as to allow a local discretion to enable school transport to be availed of by children between the ages of ten and 14 in cases where their houses are marginally within the three-mile limit.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - School Transport.
21.
The free transport schemes were introduced to ensure that pupils living long distances from school would not, by that fact, be deprived of education. The distance limit of three miles is not unreasonable.
Regulations such as those governing school transport must be of general application. To depart from them in individual cases, whether by local discretion or otherwise, would simply create a situation in which they could no longer be operated.
Does the Minister not agree that it is a ridiculous situation that you have children of, say, 11 years being passed by a half empty bus carrying their younger brothers and sisters purely because their house is 2¾ miles from the school instead of the full 3 miles?
If the situation were as the Deputy says, that they were being passed by half empty buses, they could be carried as fee paying passengers in the bus.
They might not have the money.