Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
419. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Education the number of seats allocated, as of 10 July 2023, for school transport, by county, in tabular form; and the number of applications deemed unsuccessful in obtaining a seat. [35664/23]
View answerThe School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/23 school year, over 149,000 children, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.
There has been an increase of 21% in tickets issued to eligible students and 38% in tickets issued on a concessionary basis in the 2022/23 school year compared to the 2021/22 school year.
In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for over 5,400 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.
The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9m.
It remains that children are eligible for transport at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest national school, and at post-primary level where they reside not less than 4.8 kilometres from and are attending their nearest post-primary school/education centre as determined by the department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application and payment process on time will be accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.
Children who are not eligible for school transport, but who complete the application and payment process on time, will be considered for spare seats that may exist after eligible children have been facilitated; such seats are referred to as concessionary seats.
Because of the nature of concessionary transport for non-eligible children and the priority of providing places for eligible children, there may be an excess of demand over supply for concessionary places, in these cases Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for spare seats using an agreed selection process.
In addition, temporary alleviation measures will continue for the 2023/24 school year, pending completion of the school transport scheme review. This means that transport will be provided where such services are in operation for post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second nearest school and who apply and pay on time.
Bus Éireann have advised that so far, a total of 83,231 tickets have been issued to on time eligible and concessionary pupils for the 2023/24 school year. The number of concessionary/late applications that will not receive tickets for school transport services for the 2023/2024 school year is not yet known. Bus Eireann continue to review all new and existing applications and plan routes during the summer months for the upcoming school year. Any remaining tickets for services will continue to issue in the coming weeks.
Bus Éireann have provided the number of tickets issued so far for the 2023/2024 school year by county as requested in the table below:
|
County |
On time tickets issued as of 11th July 2023 |
|
Carlow |
2311 |
|
Cavan |
2080 |
|
Clare |
1557 |
|
Cork |
9394 |
|
Donegal |
7811 |
|
Dublin |
2227 |
|
Galway |
5006 |
|
Kerry |
3493 |
|
Kildare |
3554 |
|
Kilkenny |
3618 |
|
Laois |
1289 |
|
Leitrim |
1722 |
|
Limerick |
2471 |
|
Longford |
2236 |
|
Louth |
2326 |
|
Mayo |
3721 |
|
Meath |
3425 |
|
Monaghan |
2903 |
|
Offaly |
2540 |
|
Roscommon |
1533 |
|
Sligo |
1727 |
|
Tipperary |
3510 |
|
Waterford |
2434 |
|
Westmeath |
2425 |
|
Wexford |
5723 |
|
Wicklow |
2195 |
|
Total |
83231 |
