Number of children driven to school almost doubles

THE number of children driven to school by their parents has almost doubled in 20 years — with most journeys as short as two kilometres.

Of the nation’s 448,500 primary-age youngsters, a little more than half get a daily lift to and from school. Short trips of up to 15 minutes make up the bulk of such journeys. One-in-three, or 150,000, of primary school youngsters live within a 4km radius of school but get a lift in. A third of these live as close as 1km or less to the school gate.

Last night, the Friends of the Earth Ireland (FoE) environmental campaign group said the findings, from last year’s Census, were shocking but not surprising.