Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 April 2024
99. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Education if she will provide an update on the school transport scheme; the number of applications currently in the system from Cork county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16472/24]
View answerThe School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 161,600 children are being transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. This figure includes over 135,000 children on mainstream services, 19,800 on children with special educational needs, and 6,800 children who have arrived in Ireland from Ukraine.
The total cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382.02m.
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, and 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.
Any children 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.
The Bus Éireann family portal is now open for new applications for school transport services for the 2024/25 school year. The closing date for new applications is Friday 26 April 2024.
Temporary Alleviation Measures will be in place for the 2024/2025 school year. These measures mean that transport will be provided where such services are in operation and there is capacity to do so, for post-primary students who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second nearest school and, who applied and paid for school transport within the deadline dates.
A review of the School Transport Scheme has recently been completed and the School Transport Scheme 2030 report has now been published. It marks the largest review of the School Transport Scheme since it was established in 1967 This review was conducted with a view to examining the current scheme, its broader effectiveness and sustainability, and to ensure it serves students and their families adequately.
The Government is committed to working to achieve the report’s recommendation of expanding access to the scheme so that an additional 100,000 pupils can be carried by 2030.
A phased implementation of the review’s recommendations will begin in September 2024. This will include a shared effort between my Department and the Department of Transport to pilot and introduce greater integration of transport networks with school transport routes.
As of the end of March 2024, there were over 27,000 applications for Cork on the system. This includes the existing applications from the 2023/24 school year and is made of close to 24,000 existing and new applications for the mainstream transport and over 3,000 existing and new applications for the special educational needs transport scheme.
The total number of tickets issued in Cork for the 2023/2024 school year was over 18,000 which is approximately a 6% increase on tickets issued for the 2022/2023 school year.
