Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 September 2020
442. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Education her plans to upgrade the school transport service and allow persons from within a parish to attend their local parish school rather than having to go to the nearest school, which may be outside the parish; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23899/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the 2019/20 school year over 120,000 children, including over 14,200 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 €219m in 2019.
The purpose of my Department's School Transport Scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.
A number of changes to the School Transport Scheme were introduced in Budget 2011, which derived from recommendations in the Value for Money Review of the Scheme. These changes encompassed a number of elements such as national application of the distance rule of 3.2 kilometres at primary level, the cessation of the Closed/Central School Rule at primary level, the cessation of catchment boundary area to determine eligibility at post primary level, the increase from seven to 10 eligible pupils residing in a distinct locality to retain or establish a school transport service and the introduction of charges at primary level.
Under the terms of the Department's School Transport Scheme children are eligible for school transport if they satisfy the distance criteria (3.2km at primary and 4.8km at post-primary) and are attending their nearest school as determined by my Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
All children who are eligible for school transport and who completed the application process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the 2020/2021 school year. Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport on a concessionary basis and are facilitated where spare seats exits after eligible children have been accommodated. Where the number of ineligible children exceeds the number of spare seats available Bus Éireann allocates tickets using an agreed selection process.
With regard to the Review of the School Transport Scheme, as announced by my predecessor in October 2019, given the current evolving situation with Covid-19 the proposed review has been delayed. I propose to convene the Steering Group shortly and to agree and supplement revised terms of reference to reflect the Programme for Government.
