Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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498. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of a change to the school transport scheme (details supplied); and that this change means many large lower-income areas in Galway city are now excluded from the grant. [27255/15]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Where there is more than one school in a Post Primary Education Centre, eligibility is determined by measuring the distance from a child's home address to a central measuring point (CMP).

CMPs are a feature of the school transport scheme and have assisted in the smooth operation of services for many years. The use of CMPs benefits families by ensuring that children of the same family, who are attending different schools in the same education centre, are eligible for school transport provided they satisfy the distance criterion to the CMP rather than the individual school.

In general, where queries arise regarding distance, recourse is had to the fundamental principle of the scheme – eligibility for school transport is determined by the distance children reside from their nearest school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann.

Should families have queries regarding distance eligibility for school transport they should contact their local Bus Éireann office by phone at 091-537530 or by e-mail at schools.galway@buseireann.ie.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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499. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the options available to a family (details supplied) in County Cork who are just under the distance to qualify for free school transport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27256/15]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Under the terms of my Department's Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply to Bus Éireann for transport on a concessionary basis subject to a number of a conditions including the availability of spare seats on an existing service and the payment of the annual charge of €100 per child. This annual charge is subject to a maximum of €220 per family and can be paid in two instalments in July and December.