John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I spoke to the Deputy on the issue briefly before he came into the Chamber. This has been a consistent and continuing issue since before my time with the previous Minister. It is an issue that has been brought to my attention by a number of Deputies.

Changes to the eligibility criteria for the Department's school transport scheme were announced in December 2010 by the then Government as part of measures contained in budget 2011 and derived from recommendations contained in the value-for-money review of the scheme. This resulted in changes for eligibility in some areas such as the area in Donegal.

Any child who had eligibility under the old rules retained this eligibility provided there was no change in their circumstances. Under the new rules children are eligible for post-primary school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department or Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Bus Éireann determines distance eligibility by measuring the shortest traversable route, which may be either pedestrian or vehicular, from the family home to the nearest education centre and it is not necessarily the route that the school bus takes. This was set in rules and regulations. Therefore, the Mamore Gap is used when determining school transport eligibility for children resident in that particular area.

The purpose of this measurement is to assess if children meet the distance eligibility criterion for school transport. In the interests of equity, this is applied on a consistent standard basis across the country irrespective of any local circumstances that may impact on travel conditions on particular routes during parts of the year.

The terms of the post-primary school transport scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.

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