Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 95: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will commit to a review of school bus catchment areas and boundaries as part of the last year's programme of work. [25982/06]

Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Catchment boundaries have their origins in the establishment of free post-primary education in the late 1960's. For planning purposes, the country was divided into geographic districts, each with several primary schools feeding into a post-primary centre with one or more post-primary schools. The intention was that these defined districts would facilitate the orderly planning of school provision and accommodation needs. They also facilitated the provision of a national school transport service, enabling children from remote areas to get to their nearest school.

Reviews of specific catchment boundaries may be carried out where appropriate. A number of reviews have been carried out over the years where, for example, a new post-primary school is established in an area where previously there was none or, conversely, where a "sole provider" school closes due to declining enrolment. I do not propose to have a general countrywide review of catchment boundaries.