Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
1073. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Education the number of school transport grants that were provided due to no service; the number of applications that were made but no payment received; the number of roll-over applications by eligible students from previous years in County Mayo from the 2017-2018 to the 2021-22 academic years, in tabular form. [40308/22]
View answerThe School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. 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.
Under the terms of my Department's Primary and Post-Primary School Transport Schemes children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 3.2kms at primary and 4.8 kms at post-primary from and are attending their nearest school/education centre as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
An eligible child for whom no transport service is available may, following an application and payment for transport within prescribed time limits, receive a Remote Area Grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements. This grant is also payable for eligible children who may have to travel 3.2 kms or more to or from a designated pick up/set down point.
The tabular statement below contains information in relation to the numbers of grants offered to families in the years requested by the Deputy.
|
School Year |
No. of Remote Area Grants sanctioned |
|
2017-18 |
69 |
|
2018-19 |
73 |
|
2019-20 |
73 |
|
2020-21 |
87 |
|
2021-22 |
68 |
Bus Éireann have provided information in relation to applications made in the tabular statement below. The data for the 2017/2018 school year is not available in the manner requested by the Deputy.
Mainstream applications excluding grants, no service and closed applications
|
Applications |
Source Data |
The number of applications that were made but no payment received (Mainstream Eligible + Mainstream Concessionary) |
No. of Mainstream Eligible Pupils Rolled Over from Previous School Year |
|
|
SCYR1718 |
Concessionary only available |
|||
|
SCYR1819 |
5452 |
Accurate as of 20/09/18 |
754 |
2682 |
|
SCYR1920 |
5525 |
Accurate as of 23/09/19 |
840 |
2950 |
|
SCYR2021 |
5765 |
Accurate as of 24/05/21 |
1055 |
3104 |
|
SCYR2122 |
5856 |
Accurate as of 23/05/22 |
911 |
3102 |
