Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

It probably has jump started it but the process will continue over the next two school years, including the one that is about to commence in September. School communities in these areas are on notice that they should start planning.

With regard to rationalisation of the transport system, I am more than happy to speak to the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Cannon. I was presented with contradictory information on the transport system in south County Donegal when I visited the Finn Valley last Friday. We are open to practical solutions where the same bus passes by different schools.

The small schools in urban and outer suburban areas are on clear notice that there is no going back from the current position because they have options. The options are less evident in the communities to which Deputy Naughten refers. This is why we will have to consider a definition for isolated schools - I am speaking aloud rather than setting out a formal policy - as distinct from small schools and other schools. This country eliminated more than 2,000 schools in the 1960s and 1970s for all sorts of reasons and nobody wants to go back there. Whatever we do in the future, it has to work for families, pupils and educational outcomes.

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