School 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.
Bus Éireann have advised that they have conducted a search on their records and cannot find applications for the pupils referred to by the Deputy.
Officials in the School Transport Section of my Department have contacted the Deputy's office seeking further information on these pupils and once received, my Department will liaise with the Deputy directly in regard to his query.