Vol. 572 No. 5
110 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Education and Science if an extension to the school transport service for persons (details supplied) in County Mayo will be sanctioned, based on the medical evidence submitted; if his Department has received the two medical certificates that were supplied to a person (details supplied) at the school transport section on 26 September 2003; and if so, when this application will be dealt with. [23731/03]
The pupils referred to in the details supplied reside within two miles of the route of service to the school in question. As this is considered to be a reasonable level of service in the context of the general operation of the school transport scheme, it is not open to my Department to sanction an extension of service as requested. As a rule post-primary school transport routes are planned so that as far as possible, no eligible child will have more than two miles to travel to a pick-up point. Pupils living off the main route of a service are generally expected to make their own way, or to be brought to convenient pick-up points along the main route. Home pick-ups were never envisaged as being part of the school transport scheme as the cost involved on a countrywide level would be prohibitive. My Department is satisfied that the school bus service should not be extended in this case.
