Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2020
750. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Education if additional capacity is being put in place for students relying on school transport to ensure they get a seat on the bus in County Roscommon; if additional capacity has been made available for a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32854/20]
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. Under the terms of the Post Primary School Transport Scheme, children are eligible for school transport where they reside not less than 4.8kms from and are attending their nearest Post Primary School/Education Centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
All children who are eligible for school transport and who completed the application and payment process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the 2020/21 school year where such services are in operation. The closing date for payment for the 2020/2021 school year was Tuesday 4th August 2020.
Late applicants and/or families who pay late are not guaranteed a seat and will only be allocated a seat if capacity is available once seats are allocated to those families who applied and paid on time for transport services for the 2020/2021 school year. In addition, payments or submission of medical card details for Post-Primary seats completed or made after 4th August 2020 will be only considered when 50% capacity, required by new Covid19 public health guidelines, is achieved on each route.
As the additional capacity is rolled out, where spare capacity is created, further tickets will be allocated to those children eligible for the scheme who have paid late and for other applicants seeking concessionary tickets.
Bus Éireann have confirmed that there are currently 6 services running to the school referred to by the Deputy. These services are catering for 147 eligible and 28 ineligible pupils. 4 eligible and 7 ineligible concessionary pupils were unsuccessful in obtaining a ticket for the 2020/21 school year.
In the event of not securing a ticket where no capacity exists, or on cancellation, a full refund will be issued.
