Hope of school transport reprieve

FAMILIES who fear their children will not be eligible for transport to the same primary school as their older siblings from next year could be offered a reprieve as the effects of the rule change are being reviewed.

Bus Éireann is analysing the numbers of schools and families likely to be affected by the planned restriction on school bus eligibility, Minister of State for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock said.

The changes to the closed school rule (CSR) are due to take effect in September 2012 for children starting at dozens of schools which were formed by the amalgamation of hundreds of rural primary schools which closed in the 1960s and 1970s.

They will only be entitled to travel on the school bus to these schools, where brothers and sisters may already be attending, if it is their nearest school and they live at least 3.2 kilometres away.

But concerns have been raised that the rule change will mean children from the same family may be sent to different primary schools or, where there are seats available with their siblings, the new children must pay €200 a year instead of the €50 being paid for their brothers and sisters.

Mr Sherlock told the Irish Examiner the review of the impact is expected during the summer but he is hopeful that, if the number of schools and families impacted is greater than previously estimated, an imaginative solution can be found.

However, the Cork East Labour TD stressed that no decisions can be made until the detailed analysis from Bus Éireann is available later in the summer.

He also told the Irish Examiner that, while the policy might be re-examined, savings would still have to be found.