Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 November 2023
233. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Education if an application for school transport will be reconsidered in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50683/23]
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.
Over 134,000 tickets have issued for the 2023/2024 school year which is an increase of 12% when compared with the start of the 2022/2023 school year. The number of tickets issued so far has already exceeded the total number of tickets issued in the 2022/23 school year. There has been an overall increase in both applications and tickets issued for the 2023/2024 school year in comparison to the 2022/2023 school year.
Under the current terms of the Primary School Transport Scheme, children are eligible where they live no less than 3.2 kilometres from and are attending their nearest primary school having regard to ethos and language.
Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time were accommodated on school transport services where such services are in operation.
Bus Eireann has advised that the children referred to by the Deputy are eligible for school transport, however, the family applied and paid late for transport for the 23/24 school year.
Bus Eireann further advise that there are seats available on an existing service that the children referred to by the Deputy can be accommodated on and their local office will liaise directly with the family in this regard.
