Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 233: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding school transport (details supplied) in view of changes to the scheme that will come into effect from September 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18424/11]

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 234: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a matter (details supplied) in relation to the closed school rule; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18425/11]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 233 and 234 together.

Changes to school transport services relating to the Closed School Rule 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. It is important to stress that there are a number of dimensions to the cessation of the Closed School Rule (CSR). The first of these, which will be implemented from September 2011, involves the uniform application of the distance criterion to all pupils travelling under the primary transport scheme, including those travelling under the CSR. This means that children residing less than 3.2 kilometres from their school of amalgamation will be deemed ineligible for school transport. In such cases, these children may apply for concessionary transport.

The second element of the change is scheduled to take effect in September 2012 and will apply only in the case of pupils commencing their primary education from that date. This second element will restrict school transport eligibility for those pupils entering in September 2012, to pupils who meet the distance eligibility criterion and are travelling to their nearest school. 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 CSR are in fact attending their nearest school and will not be affected by this change. Before implementing this second main change which is proposed for 2012, my Department has requested Bus Éireann to conduct a detailed analysis of the "on the ground" impact for individual schools and the rural communities they serve. 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. I will then have ample opportunity to carefully examine the likely affects of this change and act on it, if necessary, well in advance of the 2012 implementation date.