Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I welcome this opportunity to outline to the House my Department's position regarding school transport for children residing in the Blackwater area of County Wexford. By way of general comment, I should explain that one of the main objects of the school transport scheme is to provide a basic level of service for children who live long distances from schools and who might otherwise experience difficulty in attending regularly.

More than 135,000 primary and post primary pupils use the school transport scheme on a regular basis. Expenditure for school transport in 2005 was more than €122 million. The allocation for 2006 is €152 million, a 30% increase on that of last year. It includes funding towards the cost of a comprehensive package of measures which I announced last year to address the phasing out of the three for two seating arrangement on school buses.

I now wish to focus on the specific issue of transport for children attending post-primary schools. For the purposes of post primary education provision, the country is divided into catchment areas, each of which has its own post-primary centre. Under the terms of the post-primary school transport scheme, pupils are eligible for transport if they reside 4.8 km, approximately three miles, or more from the post primary centre in the catchment area in which they reside.

See this speech in context