The families of over 90,000 primary and secondary schoolchildren using free school transport, including medical cardholders, should pay for the service in future, a report to the Department of Education has recommended. Only children with special needs should be exempted.
The report of the School Transport Review Committee, which was published yesterday, says non-medical card-holders should pay a "parental contribution" of £90 per year, with a maximum of £270 per family. Medical cardholders should pay £30 per year.
At present 50,000 primary children - all those who live a certain distance (usually not less than two miles) from their nearest suitable school - are eligible for free transport. All eligible medical card-holders at second level can travel free, with a parental contribution of either £23 or £37 per term for non-medical cardholders.
The review committee, chaired by TCD economist Dr John Bristow, wants the level of charges to be the same for both primary and secondary pupils.
It says the proposed charge for medical card-holders would "enhance social cohesion by making card-holders less distinctive and by reducing the potential resentment of present [post-primary] and new [primary] contributors". It notes that the £30 charge represents less than 60p per child per week.
The committee estimates that an extra £4.5 million per year could be raised by the proposed contributions. It wants most of this extra money spent on improving services for pupils with special needs: to adapt more buses for wheelchair use; to fit special seat belts; to provide more escorts and to ensure that all children are picked up after 8 a.m. and set down after 4 p.m. Other recommendations include the payment of contributions twice-yearly instead of every term.
The chairman of the National Parents Council (Primary), Mr Brian Foy, said the NPC did not mind "those who can afford it paying for a quality service, provided there is a good, safe, supervised system at the end of the day and those who can't afford to pay are guaranteed access to school".