Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2023
247. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Education the estimated cost to the Exchequer to provide free school transport to all primary and post-primary school students in 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39518/23]
View answerThe School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2022/2023 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.
In addition, school transport scheme services were provided for over 5,400 children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine.
The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9m.
Already over 132,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year which is an increase of 12% when compared with the same time last year. This number of tickets has already exceeded the total number of tickets issued in the 2022/23 school year.
The scheme is operated by Bus Éireann on a cost recovery basis. The scheme is a demand led scheme and costs can vary from year to year based on the number of children for whom services are provided for in any given year and any additional costs incurred due to external factors such as for example the impact of Covid-19, the requirement to provide transport for children who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine and the cost of living measures announced by Government in 2022 as they related to school transport.
The cost of operating the scheme has increased from €200.2m in 2018 to €338.9m in 2022. The number of pupils travelling on school transport services over the period 2018/19 to 2022/23 has increased from some 117,800 pupils to over 151,000 pupils.
The waiving of school transport fees for the 2022/2023 school year was announced by Government as a cost of living measure. The estimated cost of parental fees forgone as a result is some €19.5m. Additional costs were also incurred to provide the additional services to cater for the increased demand that arose as a result of this fee waiver.
