Vol. 521 No. 4
265 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Education and Science if, further to Parliamentary Question Number 372 of 28 March 2000, in which Deputy Neville was informed that the school transport section of the Department of Education and Science was investigating the extension of a school bus route in County Limerick, he will make a statement in this regard. [17105/00]
The question of an extension of the post-primary school bus route referred to by the Deputy has been re-examined in the school transport section of my Department.
The position generally is that post primary school bus routes are planned so that, as far as possible, no eligible pupil will have more than three miles to travel to the nearest pick-up point. Pupils residing off the main route of a service are expected to make their own way or be brought to the convenient pick-up points along the main route.
The families who would benefit from the route extension in question reside between one and one and one half miles from the route. This is considered to be a reasonable level of service in the context of the general operation of the scheme.
In the circumstances it is not open to my Department to extend the existing bus route for the pupils in question.
