Seán Sherlock
Question:257. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Education the number of applicants, by county, in tabular form, who did not receive a seat on the school transport scheme 2023/2024. [39601/23]
View answerWednesday, 20 September 2023
Questions (257)
Written answers
The 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 close to 133,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year which is an increase of 7% when compared with the same time last year, the number of tickets increases on a regular basis as capacity becomes available. This number of tickets has already exceeded the total number of tickets issued in the 2022/23 school year.
In relation to the Deputy's request for the number of applicants, by county, in tabular form, that did not receive a seat on the school transport scheme 2023/2024; it is not possible to provide this information as Bus Éireann continue to issue tickets to families where capacity is available.
Bus Éireann have advised however that the number of tickets issued to pupils, by county to date is in the table below. Please note, these figures are taken from a point in time and are subject to change.
|
Mainstream Only |
School Year 2023/24 |
|
County |
Total number of mainstream tickets issued |
|
Carlow |
2882 |
|
Cavan |
3989 |
|
Clare |
4001 |
|
Cork |
17661 |
|
Donegal |
10310 |
|
Dublin |
2749 |
|
Galway |
11352 |
|
Kerry |
6282 |
|
Kildare |
5956 |
|
Kilkenny |
4272 |
|
Laois |
2012 |
|
Leitrim |
2208 |
|
Limerick |
5640 |
|
Longford |
2364 |
|
Louth |
4566 |
|
Mayo |
5507 |
|
Meath |
5811 |
|
Monaghan |
4066 |
|
Offaly |
3005 |
|
Roscommon |
2125 |
|
Sligo |
2611 |
|
Tipperary |
6229 |
|
Waterford |
3252 |
|
Westmeath |
3211 |
|
Wexford |
7086 |
|
Wicklow |
3799 |