Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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176. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) in County Cork is being discriminated against for school transport to their school in view of an agreement being in place following the dissolution of a Church of Ireland school in favour of a community school. [22915/17]

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

Currently almost 116,000 children, including some 12,000 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.

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; this eligibility criteria also applies in the case of school closures/amalgamations.

An eligible child for whom no transport service is available may, following an application for transport within the prescribed time limits, receive a Remote Area Grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements.

Bus Éireann has advised that the child, in question, is not attending her nearest Church of Ireland national school and therefore is not eligible for the Remote Area Grant.