Seanad debates

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

3:00 pm

Photo of Paul BradfordPaul Bradford (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, to the House. It is fortuitous that the Minister of State with responsibility for school transport is here to listen to my plea and request and, hopefully, to respond with a degree of compassion and flexibility to bring assistance to the pupils at the Adair national school in Fermoy, County Cork.

We are speaking in Seanad Éireann this afternoon about a matter concerning a minority community mainly of the Church of Ireland tradition. I take this opportunity to cite something the former Senator William Butler Yeats said in this House on 11 June 1925 when speaking about a particular legislative difficulty faced by the minority Church of Ireland people:

We against whom you have done this thing are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of Burke; we are the people of Grattan; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell. We have created the most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence.

Those comments by the former Senator William Butler Yeats about those whom he termed were no petty people is something upon which we should reflect when we are considering the question of school transport being withdrawn from a minority community and a very small number of pupils.

As the Minister of State may be aware from correspondence submitted to his office, the Adair school in Fermoy, which is under the management of the Church of Ireland, was founded in 1804. It is a very old and established national school that has served its community in a tremendous way for generations.

The Minister of State's Department accepts, from a school transport perspective, that ten pupils in the school meet the distance criteria of the 3.2 km, but the Department has indicated that these ten children do not come from what was termed a distinct locality. On behalf of the pupils, parents, teachers and all people in north Cork concerned about the protection of the rights of a minority group, I advise the Minister of State that the catchment area for this Church of Ireland school in Fermoy is the boundary of the grouping of parishes which makes up the Fermoy union. It is not only a single parish. It is an area covering approximately 400 square miles. That area has been served with school transport for many years.

As far as the parents, the teachers and the pupils would be concerned, that is the distinct locality. For pupils from that area, if they wish to receive an education in a school of their choice and of their tradition, their local school is the Fermoy Adair school.

The Minister of State's office, through one of his principal officers or possibly the principal officer at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, was, I believe, asked to clarify what was meant by a distinct locality and wrote that, in regard to a distinct locality, the guidelines of the scheme clearly outline that a service to convey a group of children whose homes are at scattered points in a school district would not be approved. The strong argument made to me by those concerned about the situation in Fermoy is that under those guidelines no child living in a rural area would be eligible to receive bus transport to school because in rural areas all children live in homes that are at scattered points in a school district. The question of the distinct locality must be looked at again.

In the large geographical area of north Cork there are only two national schools offering a choice to children of Church of Ireland or other minority traditions, Mallow and Fermoy. The Fermoy school has not only pupils of Church of Ireland background. In recent years up to 14 different nationalities have attended these schools. The school is diverse and inclusive in that regard. I am advised the enrolment fluctuates between 35 and 45, but the vast majority of those children are attending that school because it reflects the ethos of their parents, their grandparents and their entire tradition in north Cork, and that is something which must be protected.

I am the first to appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, and his colleagues in Government are under grave financial constraint and that he is reviewing the school bus transport system, but in cases where we are talking about a minority religious tradition we must be exceptionally protective and, where possible, not only compassionate but flexible.

There is some sort of appeal process available and this case may well be under that appeal process at present. Given their tradition and their place in the landscape of the area, not only educationally but socially, culturally and historically, it is important that schools such as the Adair school are protected. Unfortunately, if the school transport service is withdrawn, that will be almost a body blow to the school itself.

I appeal to the Minister of State to look sympathetically and compassionately, and, hopefully, favourably, on the pupils at Adair who since September have been without school transport. Without the return of school transport, the future of this school is under threat. From a religious, societal and inclusive perspective, that would be bad. I hope Deputy Cannon can use his undoubted skill to bring progress to this difficult situation.

Photo of Ciarán CannonCiarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Bradford for raising the matter today as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the general position regarding the changes in the primary school transport scheme announced in budget 2011 by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government. These changes derive from recommendations in the value for money review of the school transport scheme and include the introduction of charges, changes to the closed school rule and changes to the minimum numbers required to establish or maintain a service. In particular, I wish to outline more fully the changes to the minimum numbers required to establish or maintain a service as it is this change which has affected the bus service to Adair national school.

The change in the minimum numbers required to establish or maintain a service, requires that, from the 2011-12 school year, a minimum of ten eligible pupils, residing in a distinct locality, will be required to retain or establish a school transport service. This brings the minimum numbers required to establish services back to 2002 levels. It is interesting to note that when the change was made in 2002 to establish a minimum number of seven rather than the previously agreed minimum number of ten, the cost of providing school transport went up by €20 million the following year.

On a distinct locality, the guidelines of this scheme clearly outline that a service to convey a group of children whose homes are at scattered points in a school district would not be approved. On the advice of Bus Éireann, which operates the scheme on behalf of the Department, the number of eligible applicants from a distinct locality in this instance is below the required number of ten. While applications have been submitted on behalf of ten children, five of these children reside west, one resides south, one resides south-east, two reside east and one resides north of the school at scattered points.

Commenting on the Senator's earlier observations that, by its nature, a rural school transport involves the collecting of children at scattered points throughout a rural community, that is very much the case, but I am sure the Senator, coming from a rural community as he does, would be aware that, even within a dispersed rural community, normally with school transport services an individual bus would pick up children who reside in a particular locality, usually at a similar distance and at a similar compass point from the school. The analysis carried out by Bus Éireann would seem to suggest that this is not the case with these ten children.

I emphasise that the school transport scheme continues to have regard for language and ethos. In this instance, the families for whom this is the nearest school under Protestant management and who reside more than 3.2 km from the school will be eligible for a grant towards the cost of making private transport arrangements. This grant ranges from some €200 per school year to over €900 per school year depending on the distance involved.

This minimum number requirement is being applied nationally and in all, some 100 primary routes, out of a total of 6,000 routes which operated in the last school year, will not operate this year because there are insufficient eligible children qualifying for transport in order to warrant a service.

I remind the Senator that these changes are taking place against the backdrop of the severe financial difficulties that the country is in. Under the four-year national recovery plan, there is a requirement to deliver savings of €17 million on the school transport budget and the measures announced in budget 2011 are an integral part of this.

I again thank the Senator for raising this matter.

Photo of Paul BradfordPaul Bradford (Fine Gael)
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Could the Minister of State advise on this appeal process? What is the format of it and its timescale? Will he acknowledge that this school is currently in the process of having its case appealed?

Photo of Ciarán CannonCiarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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As Senator Bradford points out, the decision to withdraw the bus service is currently being appealed to an independent appeals board which is made up of experts in school transport and logistics in general. Neither I nor any official in the Department has any influence over the decision of that board. It is completely independent, as it should be. I understand that the board is due to adjudicate on this case within the next week or so.