Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 6 September 2019
422. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Education and Skills if correspondence forwarded to the school transport appeals office by a person (details supplied) on 12 July 2019 will be acknowledged and replied to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36135/19]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
In the 2018/2019 school year over 117,500 children, including over 13,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €200m in 2018.
The purpose of my Department’s School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
Children are generally eligible for school transport if they satisfy the distance criteria and are attending their nearest school.
Decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Department of Education and Skills regarding the provision of school transport services and/or grant-aid under the terms of the School Transport Schemes may be appealed to the School Transport Appeals Board.
The School Transport Appeals Board has no record of the correspondence referred to by the Deputy.
Appeals should be made on-line to the School Transport Appeals Board at www.schooltransportappeals.ie or by downloading a School Transport Appeals Form on my Department’s website at www.education.ie
