Catherine Murphy
Question:316. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Education if she utilises Central Statistics Office data and Census results in the context of the provision of the school transport. scheme. [44747/22]
View answerWednesday, 14 September 2022
Questions (316)
Written answers
School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the last school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 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 €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.
In July 2022, Government announced funding for the waiving of school transport scheme fees for the coming school year as part of a wider package of cost of living measures.
The Department’s School Transport Section works with a number of relevant areas within the Department and with the National Council for Special Education to explore options for strengthening its forecasting demand for School Transport Scheme Services.
In addition, the Department commenced a Review of the School Transport Scheme in February 2021. The review is to be conducted to ensure funds are being spent in the most effective way and to also examine potential scope for a more co-ordinated approach involving other Government departments that also fund transport service.
As part of this review the Department will continue to build on the work that has been done in order to develop a forecast of demand for the school transport service in order to assist in policy development for the scheme.
In this regard School Transport Section is currently actively engaging with the Planning and Building Unit (who have a Geographical Information System (GIS) system that uses data from a range of sources including the Central Statistics Office) and Statistics Section of the Department and with the National Council for Special Education with regard to projected demand for school transport services which will assist in informing recommendations and policy on the future operation of the scheme.