School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020.
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.
The table below outlines the number of school buses owned by Bus Éireann that are used on the school transport scheme by the age of the vehicle as requested by the Deputy.
Year
|
No. of School Buses
(As at 21/06/2021)
|
2001
|
57
|
2002
|
28
|
2003
|
27
|
2004
|
67
|
2005
|
28
|
2006
|
70
|
2007
|
32
|
2009
|
2
|
2016
|
20
|
Grand Total
|
331
|