Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that the decision to use a route over Mamore Gap when calculating the nearest school for children living in Urris, County Donegal, is overturned in order that a school (details supplied) can continue to be the nearest school for these children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1811/17]

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

Currently in the region of 114,000 children, including some 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.

Changes to the eligibility criteria for my Department's School Transport Scheme were announced in December 2010 by the then Government as part of measures contained in Budget 2011 and derived from recommendations contained in the Value for Money review of the scheme.  This resulted in changes for eligibility in some areas such as the Urris area in Donegal. 

Any child who had an eligibility under the old rules retained this eligibility provided there was no change in their circumstances.  Under the new rules children are eligible for post primary 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.

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 education centre and it is not necessarily the route that the school bus takes.  Therefore the Mamore Gap is used when determining school transport eligibility for children resident in the Urris area.

The purpose of this measurement is to assess if children meet the distance eligibility criterion for school transport. In the interests of equity, this is applied on a consistent standard basis across the country irrespective of any local circumstances that may impact on travel conditions on particular routes during parts of the year.

The terms of the Post Primary School Transport Scheme are applied equitably on a national basis and will continue to be applied to the children in question.