Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for coming in to discuss and debate this issue. As he is aware, Wexford town is the capital town of County Wexford. It is home to a population of about 21,500 people and, like many towns, it is experiencing very rapid population growth, with an increase of approximately 9% over the last census. One of the issues with the rise in population in Wexford town is access to secondary school places. At present in Wexford town we have five secondary schools: Wexford CBS, Loreto Secondary School, Selskar College, St. Peter's College and Presentation Secondary School. The issue is that it is currently not possible to facilitate all applicants who apply for a secondary school place in Wexford town. In the case of ten students whom I am giving a voice to today - I am aware of other cases as well - they applied for a secondary school place in Wexford town but unfortunately were not successful in the lottery system. This has meant that they have to travel now from Wexford town, 37 kilometres down the road to New Ross to attend Good Counsel College. This is a very good school and they have no issue doing that but they would have preferred to have a place in their local town, in Wexford town. The issue here is that the school rural transport guidelines at the moment only permit a school bus ticket for a student who is attending the closest school to them. Unfortunately, these students were locked out of the schools closest to them and find themselves now in a position where they cannot get a school bus ticket to attend the school they are now attending, Good Counsel College in New Ross. I would like to know, in the circumstances where the State has not been able to provide a secondary school place to these students in their local town, will the Department be willing to look at and re-examine the rules around these school bus tickets to ensure that there will be a school bus travelling from Wexford town to Good Counsel College, New Ross, to accommodate these students?