Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 April 2023
66. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Education to provide her response to the recommendation in the UCC report Housing and Sustaining Communities on the west Cork Islands to support young families on the islands through services and infrastructure, including free ferries where access to schooling is not available on the islands; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18603/23]
View answerSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department.
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 the current school year, over 147,900 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.
In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for over 3,800 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.
The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9m.
School transport funded by my Department is intended to cater for children and young person’s attending schools at primary and post primary level. Funding for ferry transport to islands is outside the remit of the School Transport Scheme and is a matter for the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media.
