School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of my Department. There are currently over 117,500 children, including over 13,000 children with special educational needs, transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres annually.
The report referred to by the Deputy reviewed the overhead costs and indirect costs attributable to the school transport scheme. In April 2014 my Department published this report on its website. Bus Éireann fully co-operated with the consultants who conducted the review in an open and transparent manner providing detailed financial information to assist in their review process. The consultants had extensive access to Bus Éireann financial information. For this reason the review was conducted under a confidentiality agreement between the consultants and Bus Éireann.
The review notes and acknowledges that Bus Éireann clearly applied the accounting arrangements for the scheme since 1975.
The report, which as mentioned at the outset was published in April 2014, was published with only limited exclusions of material that remain commercially sensitive. Therefore, it is not intended to publish the report without redactions.