Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 194: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the envisaged savings in 2011 and in 2012 as a result of the changes to the school transport scheme. [11627/11]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 195: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider suspending changes to the school transport scheme until the review of school catchment areas is complete; the progress of that review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11628/11]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the appeals mechanism available to those affected by changes to the school transport scheme. [11629/11]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools affected on a county basis, based on the 2010/2011 academic year figures, by the change to the closed school rule in school transport scheme. [11630/11]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of schools affected on a county basis based in the 2010/2011 academic year figures by the change to the minimum numbers rule in the school transport scheme. [11631/11]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 to 198, inclusive, together.

The four year national recovery plan requires savings of €4.5 million to be made through operational efficiencies and other savings measures in the school transport budget in 2011, rising to overall full year savings of €17million by 2014. The aggregation of the measures being implemented arising from the Value for Money Review will be an important element in achieving these savings.

The changes to school transport services were announced in the 2011 Budget by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government and derive from recommendations in the Value for Money Review of the scheme. Given the major financial constraints facing the country, I regret that I cannot reverse the changes to school transport as announced by the previous Government. We all have to understand the legacy of economic mismanagement which the last Government gave to the country.

From the 2012/13 school year, the use of the catchment boundary system will cease for all new post-primary pupils. Eligibility for school transport for all new pupils entering post-primary will be on the basis of the nearest post-primary centre or school. Existing eligible post primary pupils will retain their eligibility for the duration of their post primary education cycle provided they continue to meet the terms of the current scheme.

The cessation of the Closed School Rule (CSR) is also scheduled to take effect in September 2012 and will apply only in the case of pupils commencing their primary education from that date. Available statistics, based on sampling undertaken as part of the Value for Money Review, indicate that the impact of this change will be limited as the majority of pupils categorised under the closed school rule are in fact attending their nearest school.

My Department has requested Bus Éireann to conduct a detailed analysis of the "on the ground" impact for individual primary schools and the rural communities they serve, in terms of the closed school rule and the minimum numbers. This analysis will be based on the most up to date information available on current school transport usage patterns and I expect to have this information available to me this summer.