Seanad debates

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

The changes to the primary school transport scheme will be applied equitably on a national basis. That means eligibility for school transport will be easier to establish and the scheme will be simpler than it was in the past and more transparent for families and schools. There will be strange, anomalous situations when the radii of two schools almost intertwine. That will happen throughout the country. However, I am confident that those issues will be ironed out over the coming two or three years. We will arrive at a point, and this is what we wish to achieve, where parents can access a website, click on a map, find where their house and the school are located and be able to determine whether they are entitled to transport to that school. If so, they will be able to pay for and print a ticket on-line. That is the ultimate aim. We have invested some money towards ensuring we will arrive at that position quite soon, and this process of simplifying the school transport system is the first stage in achieving that. As I said earlier to Senator Cullinane, at a time when this country is experiencing serious financial difficulties one cannot argue that there is any logic or economic sense in transporting a child to a school other than his or her nearest school.

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