Mr. Richard Dolan:

A number of issues were raised earlier around the distance rule and why it is so exact. We take the point that there are other schemes with flexibility around the distance rule but if it is not 3.2, it is 3.21 or 3.23. There will always be somebody on the edge of the distance rule so for everybody we make happy, there will always be another cohort of people just on the border.

Regarding some of the concessionary non-eligible children who lose places from year to year, places available on any route for non-eligible children are based on the number of eligible pupils so if more eligible pupils come along in a given year, there are fewer places for those who are not eligible. That would be one reason people might lose places. We dealt with the rural issue and parishes earlier. We accept that this is an issue in local areas. It just highlights the challenges of designing a national scheme that fits every local area. Deputy McConalogue mentioned a specific case at which we will certainly look

.. If ten eligible children are not found, in other words, if we do not have enough to a route put in place, those children are eligible for a remote area grant so there is some assistance for them.

The closed school rule was mentioned. This rule is not part of the current scheme. It was part of the 2012 rules. The value-for-money review dealt with that in some detail. It was on foot of a recommendation from the review that the closed school rule ceased to operate. I know the Chairman had a number of issues as well and mentioned some specific issues we can certainly examine.

We are aware of issues around the special needs scheme in particular. It is something we hear from other people as well where a driver or even the colour of a vehicle changes and it can have an impact on the children in the scheme. Like Bus Éireann, we are bound by EU procurement rules and that is why a driver or vehicle might change. That is not to say that we cannot continue to work with families and schools to make sure they are at least aware of the change and why it might happen. We work closely with the NCSE on the special education scheme so if a child is too long on a service or two hours on a service, we would certainly look at that on a case-by-case basis. In effect, everything we do in the special education needs scheme is on a case-by-case basis. We look at all those applications specifically because they come through the Department, are assessed by somebody within the Department and are passed on to Bus Éireann. We will closely with the NCSE on those.