Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 October 2023
11. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education the progress to identify measures to make school transport more sustainable as identified in the annexe of actions in the climate action plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44987/23]
View answerWill the Minister make a statement on the progress that has been made in identifying measures to make school transport more sustainable, a measure identified in the annex of actions attached to the climate action plan?
The school transport scheme is a significant operation and, as the Deputy will be aware, it is managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2022-23 school year, over 149,000 young people, including over 18,000 children with special educational needs, were transported to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country every day. In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for over 5,400 children who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine. The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9 million. There has been an overall increase in the numbers of both applications and tickets issued for the 2023-24 school year in comparison to the 2022-23 school year.
Under the current terms of the scheme, pupils at primary level are eligible where they live not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest primary school. At post-primary level, students who live not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post-primary school are deemed eligible. Any pupils or students who do not meet these criteria are deemed not eligible, or otherwise known as concessionary applicants, and are allocated a ticket based on the availability of a seat when all eligible children have been catered for. Temporary alleviation measures, TAMs, at post-primary level are being continued for the current school year.
Undoubtedly, the school transport scheme is of enormous importance in terms of encouraging the use of public transport and taking cars off the road. It also brings significant benefit in the area of congestion and traffic management in towns and villages. Considering how to best maximise these benefits now and into the future has been a significant factor in the ongoing review of the scheme. The review has been conducted with a view to examining the current scheme, its broader effectiveness and sustainability, and to ensure that it serves students and their families adequately. This review has built upon the commitments within the programme for Government, as they relate to school transport, including examining options to reduce car journeys and assessing how the school transport scheme can work in liaison with the safe routes to schools programme.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications was on the membership of the steering group for the review and its input and views on how the school transport scheme can support climate action targets have been included in the final report. It is also important to note that officials from my Department also engage regularly with their counterparts in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on the development of the climate action plan, CAP, both the current CAP 23 and the forthcoming CAP 24.
When are we likely to see the review and the implementation of its recommendations? There were interim proposals and some of them were taken on board but even in the period since the interim proposals and the change to include the second nearest school, which was welcome, there has been a significant step change in terms of climate policy and transport policy and in terms of school transport policy. When might we see that review?
Quarter 4 of 2023 is indicated in the annexe of actions in the climate action plan. Is that still the indicative timeline for the review and, importantly, for the implementation of the recommendations?
I know Deputy O'Rourke has an enormous interest in this area, both from the climate action point of view and from recognising the importance of the benefit of the school transport scheme. He is quite correct that there was an interim review and a final review. Phase 1 of the review was completed in June 2021 and examined the impact of eligibility criteria for the scheme on mainstream pupils who were eligible for transport to their nearest school but attending their next nearest school. The steering group presented me with that report and, following consideration of the report, the Deputy will be aware that we introduced the TAMs for students who are attending not just their nearest post-primary school but their next nearest. These measures have been continued for 2022 to 2023.
There has been a significant body of work in terms of engagement with parents, students, providers, those who do not use the scheme, and looking at best practice with our European counterparts. It is my expectation that it will be published shortly, but prior to that it has to go to the Government, and then it will be published. That is quite imminent.
I know from a reply to a recent parliamentary question about the school transport scheme that there are more than 6,400 vehicles in the scheme. From meeting with transport providers I know there is a similar challenge for the private fleet to deliver reduced emissions. It is a reasonable expectation that it might be slower in that fleet. That raises the question of the importance of a fuel efficient and modern fleet in terms of the school transport fleet owned by Bus Éireann. Is that something that is going to be a priority for the Minister? From what I hear from lots of providers is that Bus Éireann is running older buses and it is not replacing the buses when they are scrapped. Will Bus Éireann be getting a modern fleet for school transport?
A key aspect of the review is that we would be very much within our climate action targets. The climate action plan includes a specific target to increase the number of journeys being taken using sustainable travel, whether it is cycling, walking or sustainable public transport by an additional 125,000 journeys by 2025 and a 30% shift in escort-to-education car journeys to more sustainable modes of transport by 2030. By that I mean people driving children to school or whatever.
The plan also requires Ireland to achieve a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions not later than 2050. Encouraging greater uptake of school transport scheme services can support the achievement of these targets. That involves looking at everything in the most holistic way, whether it is the fleet itself or encouraging more people to engage in it and meeting our climate action targets.
