Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020
392. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Education if she is considering allowing families relying on the Covid-19 payment to access free school transport for the academic year 2020/2021 in view of the fact that the current payment regime is causing great difficulty for many families particularly in rural areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25235/20]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 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 €219m in 2019.
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.
Under the terms of the School Transport Scheme Primary children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2 kms from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. Post Primary children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 4.8 kms from and are attending their nearest education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Children who are eligible for school transport and who hold valid medical cards (GMS Scheme) are exempt from paying the annual charge. In addition, there is no charge for children who are eligible for school transport under the terms of the Department's School Transport Scheme for children with Special Educational Needs.
The appropriate annual charge applies to all other children and there are no current plans to change this.
