School Transport Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 October 2019

Tuesday, 1 October 2019

Ceisteanna (210)

David Cullinane

Ceist:

210. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the public services card will soon be required to make an appeal to his Department in relation to the provision of access to school transport schemes in view of the fact that under the current system of school transport appeals, if an appeal is submitted online or offline, no identity validation or description is required; the way in which or the reason a SAFE 2 level of identity authentication is now to be introduced as a core requirement of an appeal regarding a local school transport decision to the exclusion of all other forms of identification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39568/19]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

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.

It is not currently a requirement to have a public services card to make an appeal to the School Transport Appeals Board in relation to a decision by my Department on an application for school transport.  It will not be part of the online school transport appeals process for the 2019 scheme applications.