Vol. 537 No. 5
553 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason he indicated in an earlier reply that children from County Mayo are eligible for transport to their nearest school although no transport service exists and the children must pay for transport to another school. [16727/01]
The pupils concerned are not attending their nearest national school and are therefore not basically eligible for free transport. A school may not be disregarded for transport purposes due to the lack of suitable transport to it.
The most that my Department can offer in this type of case is concessionary fare paying transport to the school attended. This is subject to there being room available on a service after all fully eligible pupils have been accommodated, and provided no extra State cost is involved by way of extending or altering the route.
