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Transport to school

The current arrangements for the provision of home to school transport came into operation in September 1997. Your child will only be eligible for transport assistance in circumstances where he or she enrols at a school which is beyond qualifying distance from your home (two miles for primary pupils or three miles for post-primary pupils) and has been unsuccessful in gaining a place at all suitable schools.

For the purposes of the transport arrangements the term suitable school has a precise definition:

  • Suitable school
    It relates solely to the established educational categories of controlled, maintained, integrated and Irish-medium, and in the grammar sector denominational and non-denominational schools.

Parents should be aware that the transport policy makes no exceptions for parents who choose to apply to schools outside the qualifying distance of a pupil's home without following the above transport arrangements.

Rejection by the first preference school listed will not adversely affect the chance of gaining admission to other preference schools. Applications for second or other preference schools will be considered on their own merits and on an equal footing with all others received by the school.

For more detailed information about the approved transport arrangements see: