It's unacceptable that children with additional needs have to travel over 90 kilometres for a school place.
That's according to Longford Senator Michael Carrigy who raised the issue of a lack of school places in the Athlone area in the Seanad today.
He's been made aware of one student travelling from the Glasson area of Athlone to a school in Longford town,
The Fine Gael representative says while 30 places were granted by the department of education for the area there is no availability in the local secondary schools.
He's calling on the Government to identify additional spaces at a post primary level to meet demand.
''So we need in the region of 12 to 18 places made available within the Athlone area for the kids to go to school. The reality is that these children are entitled to be educated beside their home As I say, as it stands at this minute some of these kids and their parents are going to have to travel on a return journey of 100 kilometers per day, to be able to get an education. When you look at our school transport system people must go to their nearest school yet we're not accommodating that.''
