Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for accepting this topic for debate. I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills. Since the beginning of this school year this issue has caused much consternation in Carlow, which is the county I represent. It is as a result of the announcement made by the previous Government as part of the budget for 2011 following the value for money report by the Department on the school transport scheme. I welcome the value for money report and it is important that we get as much value for money as possible from every Department. However, students must now go to their nearest school and not the school of their choice, and this is a cause for much concern.

This decision may make economic sense but from a practical point of view it does not make much sense. A number of issues should be taken into consideration. A school bus may be passing outside the door which would take a pupil to the school of his or her choice but will not pick up him or her and that pupil may have to walk a number of miles to be collected by the bus going to the school he or she is attending. In this day and age this is very dangerous and is very concerning from a health and safety point of view.

I have been made aware that although school principals were made aware of this decision last January or February, the information was not passed on to the parents of pupils beginning school this academic year. The mothers and fathers of these students enrolled their children in the school of their choice and paid for books and uniforms at considerable cost and are now not being allowed to attend the particular school. This issue needs to be addressed. Students decide to go to a school for particular reasons, most likely because the subject choice is suitable from a practical or other point of view. This decision has now been taken out of their hands because of the new arrangements.

If one does not meet the means test requirements with regard to the medical card, one must pay €350 in two instalments of €175 every six months. This needs to be addressed. It would be quite helpful if a concession were made to allow monthly payments, especially once the academic year begins with all the expense involved.

I welcome the five year school building programme announced by the Minister earlier this year. Has consideration being given to the fact that schools will lose a number of pupils from particular areas who would have enrolled otherwise? The national school in Rathvilly in north Carlow has always been a feeder school for Tullow community school which has been granted a considerable extension to commence in 2014, and I welcome this wholeheartedly. The new arrangements mean, however, that Tullow community school may lose 20 new students every year because these 20 students will now have to cross the county border to Baltinglass in Wicklow which may not be able to cater for the extra numbers.

We in rural Ireland are quite parochial about where we go and are quite proud of our county colours. Carlow is a small county and we like to stay within our county boundaries whether from a school, GAA or soccer point of view. We must go to Wicklow in the case I mentioned. In the southern part of Carlow, the same issue arises. The school in Myshall would traditionally have been a feeder school for Bagnelstown but pupils must now go across the border to Bunclody in Wexford which is a big concern and even though there is less than 0.5 km of a distance between the two schools. The school in Bunclody is now considered the nearest school even though there is only 0.5 km between it and the original school.

Could some kind of concessionary arrangement be put in place at this stage to cater for those students who have started in their new school, the school of their choice? They are not being given the opportunity to go on the bus even though it may pass by their door have full. Could an arrangement be put in place where they could pay so much per month which would be a better arrangement than exists currently? As I asked previously, will the schools be able to cater for the larger numbers in the years to come?

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