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School Transport

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Questions (463)

Seán Canney

Question:

463. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the financial burden being placed on rural families by the cost of school transport; her plans to reduce school transport fees; her views on low income families paying €650 per year for school transport; if her attention has been further drawn to the fact that many rural communities agreed to school amalgamations on receiving assurances that their children would receive free school transport to a centralised school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25231/20]

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Written answers

School 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. All children who are eligible for school transport and who completed the application and payment process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the 2020/2021 school year.

The annual charge for school transport services is €100 per annum for primary children and €350 for post primary children with a maximum family charge of €220 for primary children only or €650 overall. The service is heavily subsidised, with less than 8% of the cost of the scheme being recouped from fare-paying pupils in 2019.

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 my 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.

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