Thomas Gould
Question:287. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Education the number of children who applied for a concessionary school transport ticket this year but were unsuccessful. [39834/23]
View answerWednesday, 20 September 2023
Questions (287)
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 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.
In relation to the Deputy's request for the number of children who applied for a concessionary school transport ticket this year but were unsuccessful, it is not possible to give this information at this stage 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 as of the 8th September 2023 are as follows:
|
Eligible |
92,819 |
|
Temporary Alleviation Measures |
12,913 |
|
Concessionary |
27,248 |
|
Total |
132,980 |