Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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177. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a family (details supplied) has to pay for school transport; if his Department will consider waiving the school transport fee in the circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29742/16]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.

During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.

As the Deputy is aware, under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school 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.

In general children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis subject to a number of terms and conditions including that there are spare seats available on an existing school bus service and payment of the annual charge. A medical card waiver does not apply to concessionary transport.

Bus Éireann has advised that the child in question is not eligible for school transport but is availing of school transport on a concessionary basis.

While it is the prerogative of parents to send their children to the school of their choice, eligibility for school transport is to the nearest education centre/school.

The terms of the Scheme are applied equitably on national basis.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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178. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that parents in the Urris area of Inishowen, County Donegal, will no longer be penalised for sending their children to secondary schools in Carndonagh, County Donegal, in view of the fact that it presents the safest route to travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29743/16]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.

During the 2015/16 school year in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in approximately 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.

As the Deputy is aware, under the terms of my Department's Post Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest school as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

Bus Éireann has advised that in general children residing in the Urris area are not eligible for school transport to schools in Carndonagh. Consequently, these children may avail of school transport on a concessionary basis only to Carndonagh subject to a number of terms and conditions which are outlined in the Scheme.

Bus Éireann determines distance eligibility by measuring the shortest traversable route, which may be either pedestrian or vehicular from a family's home to their nearest school. The main purpose of this measurement is to identify the distance that families reside from their nearest school and to assess if they meet the distance eligibility criterion for school transport. The route travelled by a school transport service is not a consideration in determining distance eligibility for school transport. In the interests of equity, this is applied on a consistent standard basis across the country.

Safety of children travelling on the school transport service is of paramount importance to my Department and to Bus Éireann. Bus Éireann place special emphasis on safety and, to this end, have a wide range of checking procedures in place to ensure that a safe and reliable service is provided.