This article is from page 13 of the 2012-07-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A “SIGNIFICANT” number of school-goers in Clare could be affected in September by changes in the school transport policy, a meeting has heard.
Chief Executive Officer of Clare VEC George O’Callaghan was speaking after the matter was raised at the July meeting of Clare.
Responsibility for post primary school transport was transferred from VECs to Bus Éireann in January.
The issue was raised at last Thursday’s VEC meeting by Councillor Cathal Crowe, who requested an overview of the policy.
Mr O’Callaghan told the meeting that children would now only be eligible for bus transport to the nearest post primary school. He said students would have to pay or find other means of transport to travel to other schools.
He explained, “A lot of people won’t notice the change but a significant number will.”
According to Bus Éireann, from the commencement of the 2012/13 schoolyear, the use of the Catchment Boundary Area (CB) System as a means of determining eligibility will cease for all pupils newly entering post primary school.
From the 2012/13 school year, school transport eligibility for all pupils newly entering a post primary school will be determined by reference to the distance they reside from their nearest post primary education centre having regard to ethos and language.
To be considered eligible for school transport, pupils must reside 4.8 kilometres or more from and be attending their nearest post primary education centre, as determined by the department and Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Bus Éireann state that pupils who are not eligible for school transport, under the above criteria, may apply for concessionary transport subject to a number of terms and conditions. These concessionary pupils will not be exempt from paying the annual charge, nor will they count for the establishment or retention of a service, the company say.