Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 November 2023
363. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education the extent to which efforts continue to be made to provide adequate school places at all levels to prevent stress arising from a lack of school places or lack of school transport, and given the necessity of both parents to be in full-time employment; the extent of the efforts that continue to be made in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53139/23]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, for school planning purposes, my Department divides the country into 314 school planning areas and uses a Geographical Information System (or GIS) to anticipate school place demand. Information from a range of sources, including Child Benefit Data, school enrolment data and information on residential development activity is used for this purpose. In addition, Project Ireland 2040 population and housing targets inform the Department’s projections of school place requirements.
Having considered the projected requirements in each school planning area, my Department then makes an assessment of the existing capacity and identifies any requirement for additional provision. Additional provision is made as necessary, where the existing capacity is insufficient for future needs.
The Department is aware of pressures for school places in some areas throughout the country. A critical next step is to acquire clarity on the actual number of additional first year places required for 2024 in order for an appropriate solution to be put in place. In that context, schools in a number of areas of enrolment pressure have been requested to share data on applications for admissions. The Department is liaising closely with schools to ensure that this data is provided as soon as possible, and once it is received the actual requirement for places can be established. The Department is already having discussions with the relevant school patrons and authorities regarding potential solutions but the understanding of the actual school place needs will give clarity as to the specific actions that are required.
This close engagement with schools and patrons will also allow the Department to identify particular further capacity requirements for the forthcoming years and put any required solutions in place - beyond those that are already in train - to ensure sufficient school places to meet the needs of students in the area.
I can assure the Deputy that Department officials will continue to actively engage with schools and patrons to ensure that there is appropriate provision for all students across the country for the 2024/25 school year and into the future.
The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.
In addition, school transport scheme services were provided for over 5,400 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.
The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9m.
Over 134,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year which is an increase of 12% when compared with the start of the 2022/2023 school year.
Bus Éireann have reported that there are particular issues with resource availability (drivers/contractors) or there have been zero bids for contracts in certain areas. This is against a backdrop of significant shortages of drivers in the labour market overall and competing demands for drivers to deliver additional public transport initiatives such as Connecting Ireland and Bus Connects/Local Link services. Bus Éireann have confirmed however that no services were cancelled they are working intensively to ensure that transport arrangements are put in place as soon as possible.
Bus Éireann is providing those affected by the contractor/driver issues with regular updates on the status of their transport service. However, please be advised that Bus Éireann has put in place a dedicated customer care call centre and a ‘contact form’ on their website (buseireann.ie/school transport) to assist families specifically with School Transport queries. Families that have queries can contact the call centre on: Local 0818 919 910. Operating hours are 09.00 – 17.00 Monday to Friday.
