Thomas Gould
Question:286. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education whether she is aware of significant issues with school transport in Glenville; and her plan to address this. [39833/23]
View answerWednesday, 20 September 2023
Questions (286)
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 over 132,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year, the number of tickets issued so far, has already exceeded the total number of tickets issued in the 2022/23 school year.
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 having regard to ethos and language.
Children are eligible for transport 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 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 completed the application 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.
Bus Éireann have advised that they are aware of pupils residing in Glenville who are attending their 4th or 5th nearest school. At present all existing routes between Glenville and these schools are operating to capacity with eligible pupils and concessionary pupils who qualify for Temporary Alleviation Measures (TAMS). Under these measures, which were initially introduced in 2019, transport is provided where such services are already in place, for post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school, and are attending their second nearest school and who applied and paid by the closing dates.