I propose to take Questions Nos. 173 to 175, inclusive, together. The purpose of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest education centre. Children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
In relation to school transport provision, ethos relates to religious ethos and is in the context of provision for minority religions. Distance eligibility is determined by Bus Éireann by measuring the shortest traversable route from a child's home to the relevant education centre and a variety of methods may be used to calculate this measurement including a specially designed GIS mapping system. The shortest traversable route between a child's home and the relevant education centre may be either a pedestrian or vehicular route, and it is not necessarily the route that the school bus takes. In cases where distance eligibility is marginal or in dispute, vehicles fitted with calibrated measuring devices which measure the distance down to the nearest metre may be used to establish the exact distance and/or the nearest appropriate education centre to the child's home.