Vol. 443 No. 7
234 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Education the reason school transport is not available to children (details supplied) residing in the Oughterard catchment area who travel to secondary school in Oughterard, County Galway; the reason transport is not available from their home and not the pickup-point in view of the fact that they reside within the catchment area; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Since the family referred to by the Deputy reside ten miles from the current route it is not open to my Department to provide a service. Under the rules of the post-primary transport scheme, no special school bus service may be established or retained unless there is a minimum of seven eligible pupils within an area which can be reasonably and economically served by a bus route.
Home pick-ups are not a feature of the scheme as the cost involved, in providing such a service on a countrywide basis, would be prohibitive. In the circumstances, the only course open to me was to offer the family a remote area grant of £3 a day towards the cost of private transport arrangements to bring their child from their home to the pick-up point.
