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.
School Transport ticket registration for the 2022/23 school year closed on 29 July by which time almost 130,000 applications/registrations were received for mainstream school transport. This figure includes 44,299 new applications as well as roll-overs from the previous school year.
Bus Éireann are processing applications and issuing tickets as soon as extra buses and drivers are sourced and become available to provide transport for the higher numbers qualifying for the service.
The normal eligibility criteria of the scheme still apply and tickets continue to be allocated in line with this criteria. Pupils at primary level are eligible where they live no less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest primary school. At post primary level, students who live no less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post primary school/education centre are deemed eligible.
Any pupils/students who do not meet these criteria are deemed not eligible, or otherwise known as concessionary applicants, and are allocated a ticket based on the availability of a seat when all eligible children have been catered for.
In line with normal practice, all eligible children who completed the application and ticket registration process on time for the 2022/2023 school year will be accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.
In addition to issuing emails, a strong emphasis is placed on advertising the closing date through both website and social media platforms. Bus Éireann advertised the closing date through their website and social media platforms. The closing date was also advertised through the Department of Education, Public Representatives and other forms of media channels. The email notifications that are issued are intended as a reminder but are not required for a ticket request to be made.
Bus Éireann have confirmed that the pupils referred to by the Deputy are eligible for transport as they are attending their nearest school. However, applications for transport were not received until 25 August 2022 for the 2022/23 school year and they are therefore, deemed as a late application.
It is important to note that the application deadline for 2022/23 was 29 April 2022, and that the deadline to confirm registration for tickets was 29 July 2022. Any application completed after this date is a ‘late application’ and therefore, many school transport services are already operating at full capacity. Late applications will only be assessed after all “on time” applications have been processed and there can be no guarantee of places for late applicants.
Following the budgetary process, some additional funding has been approved for the scheme which will allow officials in consultation with Bus Éireann to consider and evaluate where temporary additional capacity may be available.
The initial focus will be where families applied on time and who previously held concessionary tickets, to alleviate the impact of the increased demands on the scheme for those families. However, it is important to stress that this is subject to capacity considerations. Constraints in sourcing vehicles and drivers in certain areas of the country may also mean that it may take a number of weeks to explore solutions for additional capacity.
