Eoin Ó Broin
Question:857. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Education if his Department will consider allowing alternative home drop-off arrangements in the case of a person (details supplied). [19797/22]
View answerTuesday, 26 April 2022
Questions (857)
Written answers
School 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 the Department's School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children with special educational needs arising from a diagnosed disability.
In general, children with special educational needs are eligible for school transport if they are attending the nearest school that is resourced to meet their special educational needs.
Eligibility for the Special Educational Needs transport scheme is determined following consultation with the National Council for Special Education through its network of Special Education Needs Organisers (SENO).
School Transport Section provides school transport from home to school. The Department considers a request to an alternative address for an eligible child based on a number of conditions; where there is an existing service in place, there is no change to the existing service (time or route), the arrangement is a consistent arrangement (ie the same time and place each day), there is no inconvenience to any other child on the service (time or change of route), there is no health and safety issues and no additional cost to the State.
Bus Éireann has advised that it is not possible to cater for this pupil to an alternative drop off location on the existing route as to do so would require the bus contractor to operate a double trip on an existing service which would result in additional costs being incurred which is outside the terms of the School Transport Scheme for Children with Special Educational Needs.