Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 October 2018
46. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a number of children from County Kilkenny, specifically Paulstown, Gowran and Ballyhale, have no school transport and cannot get to school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42127/18]
View answerI was not at the Joint Committee on Education and Skills this morning and so I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister on his new role and post. I wish him every success with it. I always believe in working constructively with people and I look forward to doing that in future.
My question is exactly as set out. Will the Minister explain the reason several children in my constituency in Kilkenny – specifically, they are from the Paulstown, Gowran and Ballyhale areas - are having serious difficulties with school transport? This was raised some weeks ago at the Joint Committee on Education and Skills. Unfortunately, they are still experiencing those difficulties. I am keen to get the Minister's response.
I thank the Deputy and I look forward to working with her. I will reiterate what I said at the committee this morning. I see the committee providing a key role in my roadmapping and in how I perform my duties as Minister. I am certain about the knowledge the committee has built up during the past two and a half years. I want to continue with the conversation and bring it in to the construct that we are trying to put together for 2019. We want to work on a plan for 2019 but I want to have a more defined three-year action plan as well. I look forward to working with Deputy Funchion in that regard.
School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. Bus Éireann is required to apply the rules of the scheme equitably in the interests of all those using the service and in delivering value for money.
The purpose of the school transport scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside in remote areas from their nearest school. In the 2017-18 school year in excess of 117,000 children, including more than 12,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in more than 4,500 vehicles every day to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering in excess of 100 million km annually at a total cost of almost €190 million in 2017. The scheme is under significant financial pressure arising from growing demographics and the increasing numbers of children with special educational needs seeking transport.
Children are eligible for school transport if they satisfy the distance criteria, if they are attending their nearest school and if it is economically feasible to provide a service. In the latter case, children are eligible for a remote area grant to assist with transport. Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the current school year where such services are in operation.
Children who are not eligible for school transport can be facilitated where spare seats are available after eligible children have been accommodated. Where the number of ineligible children exceeds the number of spare seats available Bus Éireann allocates tickets for the spare seats on the basis of an agreed selection process.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
The terms of the scheme, which are regularly communicated, make it clear that concessionary places are not guaranteed and are allocated year to year. It is understood that the cases referred to by the Deputy relate to children who are not eligible under the rules of the scheme or who failed to complete the application process on time.
Under the terms of the scheme, routes will not be extended or altered, additional vehicles will not be introduced, and larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles will not be provided to cater for ineligible children. Making exceptions to this would effectively create an open-ended scheme with unquantified exposure to the Exchequer and the taxpayer for the resulting cost. Such an approach would not be in the public interest.
I appreciate that the Minister is new to the role. My difficulty is that we always get a stock answer about the school transport scheme. With the greatest of respect, I am aware of the school transport scheme and how it works. My own two children get the school bus every day.
My question is about these children in Kilkenny. They number approximately 20 in total in three localities in Kilkenny. They are having difficulty getting to school. Parents have had to try to make alternative arrangements and have had to take time off work. There are spaces on the bus. My difficulty is that any time I raise the matter with those responsible, they do not address any of the issues I am raising. We say to them that there are definitely 12 seats free on the Paulstown route. They come back and say no seats are free. Given that other children and parents have been able to see that 12 seats are free on that bus every say since 1 September, can the matter not even be investigated or looked into? I have raised the matter several times but I have got only one response thus far from Bus Éireann – that is it. The company says the same thing and refers to the school transport scheme and concessionary and non-concessionary tickets. I am calling on Bus Éireann to look at the specific situation in these three villages and come up with a solution rather than simply telling us the rules of the scheme.
I appreciate the frustration of Deputy Funchion on this issue. I realise we are well into the first term. I can understand how frustrating this can be for parents.
I will provide some background for the three areas in question. I will suggest something then that Deputy Funchion may decide for or against. Currently, three school transport services operate from the Paulstown and Gowran areas to Kilkenny city post-primary centre. Bus Éireann has confirmed that six children who are eligible for school transport did not submit payment details by the deadline. A total of 14 children who are not eligible for school transport were unsuccessful in obtaining seats for the 2018-19 school year. In Ballyhale there are two school transport services operating in the national school in Ballyhale. Bus Éireann has confirmed that three of the children who were eligible for school transport did not submit payment details by the deadline. A total of 12 children who are not eligible for school transport were unsuccessful in obtaining seats for the 2018-19 school year. However, under one of the transport services there are two trips in the afternoon: one at 2 p.m. and one at 3 p.m. A total of 11 of the 12 ineligible children have received tickets on the afternoon service only.
The Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, has been working on this issue in several locations throughout the country. He is open to engaging with communities. He is not in the country at the moment but I will certainly ask him to meet Deputy Funchion to establish if there is any way that a local solution can be found to this important matter.
I appreciate that the Minister said that the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, is open to engagement. He certainly has not been open to engagement thus far in respect of these three villages. The parents concerned will testify to that. If he is willing to meet, that would certainly be a welcome development.
I know the Minister is from a rural area and, therefore, he has some understanding of rural communities. He will know how difficult it can be and how sometimes city-based people simply do not have an understanding of that. This has been the source of much of the frustration as well.
We are talking about children going to school in a situation where there is no other transport option unless parents give up their jobs to get their children to school. It really is frustrating. One of the major problems is that we have not being getting responses aside from stock responses. I will keep raising this issue and talking about it until someone sits down with us and says, for example, that there are definitely seats on the Paulstown bus and agrees to try to come up with a local solution. I would appreciate if the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, would meet us and if we could have a timeframe for that as well.
I am happy to speak to the Minister of State. I know several of my colleagues have contacted me on the matter as well. Maybe we can have a cross-party group meeting with the Minister of State to see if, as Deputy Funchion pointed out, there is a local solution. That is something I would be happy to pursue.
