James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the opportunity to raise this important matter regarding my constituency. It is about Kilcredan National School, which is located in the peripheral regions of Youghal and Midleton towns. It is a rural school but it is also a very large school. It came about because of the merger of three existing primary schools in that parish into one. Although it was a very good idea and the school is excellent, run by a brilliant team of people, they have come under huge pressure in recent years from the Department of Education’s transport policy on school bus transport, as a consequence of the village of Ladysbridge being a distance further from Kilcredan, which is the school of its parish, than Castlemartyr and Ballintotis national schools in the periphery. We have been having a Siege of Ennis-style situation where there is a dance every September and a panic, and we are having to bang down the doors of the Department of Education to try to deal with the situation. It is mercifully unfair on the parents and the children involved.

Ireland has changed completely in the past 40 years. Most households now are lucky to have somebody at home at all. Having an adequate bus transport system in place for kids in those areas is a really important part of the fabric of rural Ireland.

I am not happy, as a TD representing the people affected by this - those who have children attending Kilcredan, the children themselves and the school - who are all put in a very difficult position every year. What I am asking for, and I do not think it is an unfair ask, is in regard to locations that have gone through the process of amalgamation, where the school is of its parish boundaries and it is what the parents, the board of management and the local community and area want. That has never not been raised with with me as a TD representing them. They want to have it reflected by the Department of Education, that is, that it is the school of that community, of the Fr. O’Neill's, Ladysbridge and Ballymacoda catchment area and that Kilcredan is their school of which they are very proud. Some of the great hurlers, such as Ger Millerick and Declan Dalton, who played on the Cork team at the weekend come from Kilcredan. There is a very strong, proud sporting tradition in the school.

It is very discriminatory what the Department is doing with the distance boundaries. In rural Ireland, people are very precious about where they come from, and rightly so. It is a nice part of the country that we live in. What I am asking for is that the Department of Education have some bit of compassion for a school community, which is among three schools that have been merged into one, and have some recognition of that. As I said, each September we are back in the same position and are negotiating for weeks. It is a complete waste of time and, ultimately, all it requires is the stroke of a pen. That is what bothers me most about it. As a TD, I do not like having to go back to those parents, trying to scrape around for updates from the Department, putting everybody under pressure when it could all be done very easily if it were raised at this time of the year.

I would deeply appreciate it if the Minister of State could bring my points back to the Department. I am grateful to him for being here to listen to me this morning. I know that parents and children in that community would appreciate this matter being raised as a matter of urgency.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak about Kilcredan National School. The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, more than 172,500 children are transported daily in almost 8,000 vehicles across 10,300 routes to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. These daily trips cover over 100 million kilometres.

The purpose of my Department's school transport scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school. Under the current terms of the school transport scheme, children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest national school. At post-primary level, they are eligible where they reside not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post-primary school or education centre. Distance is determined by the Department-Bus Éireann and rules having regard to ethos and language.

Eligible children who complete the application process and pay or enter their medical card details on time will get a seat on a school bus service if a service is available. Children who are not eligible for school transport but who complete the application and pay or enter their medical card details on time will be considered for any spare seats available after eligible children have been accommodated. These spare seats are called concessionary seats, which are constantly discussed here every August, September and October when the schools reopen. There may be more demand than availability for concessionary seats. In such cases, Bus Éireann will use a selection process to allocate tickets for the spare seats.

The school transport system is over 55 years of age since it began with free education. The Deputy raised the issue of Kilcredan National School. A number of pilot projects were initiated over the past year or so. It is one of the pilot projects. We have to allow the full year to go through. The Department and Bus Éireann are evaluating all the pilot projects where they provide a valuable insight into the impact of increasing demand for the schemes and the potential for integrating public transport with the school transport system where it is possible, which is not always possible in rural areas. Rural areas do not have the public transport that is often sighted in urban areas or large towns. We are predominantly dependent on the school transport system. We are evaluating the 14 pilot projects, of which Kilcredan was one. I understand that the Deputy and others have raised this issue each year over the past number of years. When the pilot projects have been evaluated, we will try to find the best possible solution for students, parents and the entire community of Kilcredan National School.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State's statement. He understands rural Ireland and the issues I am raising because our constituencies are not that dissimilar. We share a county after all. I welcome the inclusion of Kilcredan in the pilot project by the Department of Education. I would appreciate if the Department would share that information with me so I can bring it back to the parents and the school and if the information was shared with the school. It is an easy issue to solve. There should be a recognition in the mapping the Department does each year with the bus provider - Bus Éireann - and the services it uses that this is a problem area because of what has happened there historically. People in Ladysbridge are very committed to the future of Kilcredan National School and want to see their children go to and support the school because it is the school of their community. I accept that there is a paradox there in terms of the distance. I am a realist. I have often discussed it with other groups across my area and said that we cannot have an à la carte solution to each problem but this one is particularly bad and more than worthy of attention. The principal of the school and his predecessor have been outstanding in terms of raising this matter with me. It puts a lot of pressure on the school board and school management. I can understand why parents are so frustrated. What happened last year and in previous years had a significant impact of people living in those houses. I thank the Minister of State for the information. I would appreciate him bringing my arguments back to the Department. I thank him most sincerely for his visit to Cork East, which was very successful. He was very sincere in his work in that regard.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I look forward to more visits to east Cork over the next number of years. When a rural school closes, there is a void and almost a grieving process within the community in which the school is located. One guarantee that was given way back when the amalgamations took place was that there would be an adequate bus service to get students from that location to the central school. It was always indicated that at primary level, we would guarantee that a bus service would be available. Boundaries, catchment areas and different regulations have developed over the past 50 to 60 years regarding transporting children to school so we must make sure we are looking at the here and now. School communities are hugely important. They are hugely important for children going to school and for the identity of the area but we must make sure are doing the best with the resources that are available to us to make sure we accommodate every child insofar as it is possible.

I will endeavour to work with the Deputy on this issue. The Department and Bus Éireann are evaluating all the pilot projects around the country. When that is done, we will look at how best we can face the future in terms of providing a better service. We are unable to share that information until it has been pulled together and studied. When this has been done, we will share the information. I will keep in close contact with the Deputy over the next number of months. The closing date for payment is in June while the closing date for application was last week. We will be working throughout the summer to ensure we have the best possible service. We had a number of meetings with officials from the Department yesterday to outline the issues we have.