Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
834. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for Education the reason post-primary Covid-19 refund grants were not processed for parents in receipt of concessionary school bus tickets; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2139/22]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 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 €289m in 2021.
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 once all eligible children have been accommodated.
On 18th August 2020, health advice was received from NPHET which impacted on the operation of post-primary school transport services. This advice stated that for post-primary pupils on school transport, strict distancing should be ensured in line with that on public transport along with the wearing of face coverings.
My Department worked together with Bus Éireann to implement measures so that any services that could operate from the start of the 2020/2021 school year at 50% capacity would do so. Over time, all other post-primary transport services were re-organised and additional services were provided as required to allow for physical distancing.
It was advised at this time that if parents decided not to avail of transport services they could request a refund on the cost of their ticket for the 2020/2021 school year.
It was also advised that for those children who were eligible for transport under the terms of the post-primary school transport scheme and whose parents decided not to use post-primary transport for the 2020/2021 school year, the Department would provide a grant to support them with the cost of private transport arrangements.
