Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, to the House and thank him for taking this important debate. I have already spoken to the Minister of State on the matter. In Limerick, we have an issue in the Caherconlish, Ballyneety, Donaghmore and Fedamore area, which is outside Limerick city. Students of the local school, John the Baptist community school in Hospital, are unable to get school transport. We have a unique set of circumstances. We have a common application system in Limerick city for schools. Through a quirk of fate the distance from Caherconlish, Ballyneety, Donaghmore and Fedamore to the GPO in Limerick city is marginally shorter than the distance to the local school, John the Baptist community school in Hospital. If students applied to schools in Limerick city under the common application system, in most cases they would not satisfy the eligibility criteria. Therefore, I am asking the Minister of State to encourage and facilitate the school transport system in Limerick city and county to look at this matter.

At present there are 20 students who can use the bus on a concessionary basis but they are without a bus. Ten of those are concessions that were on the bus previously. Two of the ten have been there for the past five years and are going into sixth year. Another two have been there for the past two years and the other six were there last year. It is their local school. Parents are under enormous pressure. It is their local school. The other ten students are first years.

We have a unique set of circumstances in the Caherconlish, Fedamore, Ballyneety and Donaghmore area where children do not qualify for concessions to get the school bus to their local school of John the Baptist community school in Hospital because they are deemed to be closer to the GPO in Limerick. In most cases they would not be eligible for school places elsewhere. I ask the Minister of State to facilitate the solution being considered to get these 20 children to their school places. It is a matter that will have to be looked at in more depth in future years.