Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 April 2021
1094. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education the progress to date in increasing school bus capacity due to the additional seating requirements arising from Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20831/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year over 114,100 children, including over 14,700 children with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €224.7m in 2020.
The Department has and continues to engage with Bus Éireann in regard to the logistics for the safe operation of School Transport Scheme services for the 2020/2021 school year. The Department has also been engaging with Bus Éireann on the logistics involved with the rolling implementation of measures on post-primary services as required to provide physical distancing for usage at 50% capacity.
Government has agreed to provide the necessary funding to ensure that full implementation of the public health recommendation of running buses for post-primary children is achieved as quickly as possible on the post-primary scheme and on the special educational needs scheme for post-primary children. To date circa 96.2% of total post-primary routes are in a position to operate at 50% capacity, comprising 95.3% of SEN post-primary and 96.7% of mainstream post-primary.
