Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2017
344. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for a reversal in decision to grant a concessionary ticket for school transport to a person (details supplied) and if he will review this decision. [37574/17]
View answerSchool transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
During the 2016/17 school year almost 116,000 children, including some 12,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
Under the terms the Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann.
Bus Éireann has advised that the family in question are not eligible for school transport as they do not meet the distance criterion.
Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis only which is subject to a number of terms and conditions including the availability of spare seats on an existing service and payment of the annual charge.
In this case, the number of applications for transport on a concessionary basis exceeded the number of spare seats available.
The child in question was not allocated a seat during the subsequent selection process and the family have been refunded their payment.
The terms of the School Transport Schemes are applied equitably on a national basis.
