Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I raise this matter in the context of comments made by the Minister for Education and Skills to the effect that two and three-teacher schools should consider their future. According to the Minister, rural schools such as scoil naisiúnta Realt na Mara which is located next to Ardea post office in County Kerry and to which this matter relates do not have a future. The Minister is orchestrating a very slow and deliberate closure process for small schools throughout the country. This process involves cutting off the school transport system on an incremental basis. Over 60% of the students who attend scoil naisiúnta Realt na Mara will no longer have access to school transport because they live nearer to a particular school in Kenmare, which is in a different parish. As the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, is aware, a school is the heart of a parish. Once a local school is closed down, a parish will slowly but surely wither away. Regardless of whether this is a deliberate policy, it will certainly result in the outcome to which I refer and will have a detrimental effect on rural areas if the Minister is allowed to persist with it.

Four bus runs are provided for in order that students from Killane and Dromuchty can travel to scoil naisiúnta Realt na Mara each day. The parents of these students have been informed that in the future they must attend the school in Kenmare to which I refer. School transport is being provided on a concessionary basis in some cases. I have two nephews who attend the school, one of whom is guaranteed transport, while the other - Dylan - is not and may be obliged to attend a different school in the future. What I have described is happening to children throughout the country. Scoil naisiúnta Realt na Mara is just one example of the consequences of the Minister's policy in this regard.

When the school in Douras and Lansdowne national school were closed, an amalgamation took place and scoil naisiúnta Realt na Mara was established as the central school. At the time there was an undertaking given to the effect that transport would be provided. The Department is now resiling from that undertaking. The school's future is, to put it mildly, in doubt. If school transport policy remains as it stands and parish boundaries continue to be broken, the school in Kenmare, namely, St. John's, which is an excellent school and has only just been opened will not have the capacity to deal with the additional pupils it will be obliged to accommodate.

I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's reply. I am sure he has encountered similar cases in his constituency.