Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 November 2021
344. Deputy Martin Browne asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to a situation with school transport affecting students from Knock, Roscrea, County Tipperary in which there is only one school bus available but students are being denied a ticket on the grounds of distance despite there being no other school bus service available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55535/21]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2020/21 school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, were 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. 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.
Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis only. Concessionary transport is subject to a number of terms and conditions including the availability of spare seats on an existing service. The availability of concessionary transport may vary from year to year and cannot be guaranteed for the duration of a child’s education cycle. Routes will not be extended or altered, additional vehicles will not be introduced, nor will larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles be provided to cater for children travelling on a concessionary basis.
Bus Éireann has advised that pupils from the Knock area, Roscrea are generally eligible for school transport to Scoil Mhuire, Lismackin, Co. Tipperary. Bus Éireann has confirmed that all eligible pupils who submitted an application and payment for transport to Scoil Mhuire within prescribed time limits have been facilitated on the service.
Bus Éireann has advised that there are currently two mainstream school transport services operating to Scoil Mhuire, Lismackin and both services are currently operating to capacity. One service operates with 21 eligible pupils and 12 concessionary pupils availing of the service. The second service operates with 19 eligible pupils and 6 concessionary pupils availing of the service.
