School Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the 2018/2019 school year over 117,500 children, including over 13,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in over 5,000 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country covering over 100 million kilometres at a cost of over €200m in 2018.
The current annual charge for transport is €100 per annum for primary children and €350 for post primary children with a maximum family charge of €220 for primary children or €650 overall. Children who are eligible for school transport and who hold valid medical cards (GMS Scheme) are exempt from paying the annual charge.
The average cost of providing transport for a child on the primary and post-primary school transport schemes is in the region of €1,000 per annum.