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School Transport

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 October 2020

Wednesday, 21 October 2020

Questions (135)

Brendan Griffin

Question:

135. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education if a student (details supplied) in County Kerry will be made eligible for school transport; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31859/20]

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Written answers

School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.   

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 my Department’s  School Transport Scheme, children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2kms at primary and 4.8kms at post-primary and are attending their nearest School/Education Centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.

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 in the 2020/2021 school year where such services are in operation.

Children who apply but who are not eligible for school transport are considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.

Where the number of ineligible children exceeds the number of spare seats available Bus Éireann allocates tickets using an agreed selection process. Concessionary transport may therefore vary from year to year and cannot be guaranteed for the duration of a child’s primary or post primary school education cycle.  The provision of a seat on a concessionary basis in a given year does not confer any continuing entitlement for that user in following years as concessionary places are entirely contingent on there being spare seats once eligible users are provided for.

Bus Éireann has confirmed that the pupil referred to by the Deputy is not eligible for transport under the terms of the scheme as they are not attending their nearest school.  Bus Éireann has also confirmed that the pupil was  successful in obtaining a ticket in the selection process for concessionary seats for the 2020/21 school year.

Changes to the school transport scheme were introduced in 2012, which derived from recommendations in the Value for Money Review of the School Transport Scheme, which  encompassed

a number of elements such as the cessation of the catchment boundary area to determine eligibility at post primary level.   Any sibling of this pupil who commenced post-primary school before this time would have been subject to the previous eligibility criteria, however this pupil's eligibility for transport is determined under the current criteria.

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