Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 November 2023
96. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Education what action her Department is taking to deal with recruitment challenges of bus drivers under the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52791/23]
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. 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.
The scheme is operated using a mix of Bus Éireann owned vehicles and directly recruited drivers, and private contractors who recruit their own drivers to operate on the scheme. As part of the operation of the scheme, Bus Éireann manages the procurement tender process and contract management arrangements to include services provided by contractors under the School Transport Scheme. There are currently in the region of 7,000 vehicles operating on the scheme.
The competitive procurement process is conducted in accordance with the negotiated procedure under national and EU procurement legislation.
Bus Éireann has reported challenges in sourcing drivers and contractors in certain areas. This is against a backdrop of significant shortages of drivers in the labour market overall and competing demands for drivers to deliver additional public transport initiatives such as Connecting Ireland and Bus Connects/Local Link services.
Bus Éireann is continuing to prioritise sourcing vehicles and drivers, through a mix of targeted campaigns seeking taxi/bus operators through NTA bulletins and mailing lists of registered licenced operators, continued engagement with existing contractors, and a national and local media advertising campaign seeking additional drivers and contractor operators for the Scheme has also taken place and is supported by additional targeted social media campaigns. Further information can be found at buseireann.ie/schooltransport.
