Two Catholic children will return to school today on a State-funded school bus after they were earlier refused on the grounds that the bus is normally reserved for Protestant students.
Education authorities in Limerick had earlier refused permission to the Gleeson children to avail of the service.
However, earlier this week two Bus Éireann passes for the service to Villiers School arrived by post at the Gleeson home.
Despite the U-turn, it was unclear yesterday who was responsible for sanctioning the bus passes.
Solicitor for the Gleeson family John Devane confirmed yesterday that the Gleeson children would be using the bus passes, and added that the family was delighted.
"The family feel vindicated. This is a very important issue for them - they wanted equality of treatment and it appears that they now have that," said Mr Devane.
The row began after the Gleeson family received a letter from transport liaison officer Deirdre Frawley, which said the children were not eligible to use the bus as only Protestant children were entitled to the service.
Ms Frawley is also the chief executive of the City of Limerick VEC. However, the board of the VEC distanced itself from the controversy, and said the matter was never within the remit of the educational body.
Management at the predominately Protestant Villiers School, which is not responsible for allocating bus passes, said it had no issue with Catholic children using the bus if they could be accommodated.