Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 October 2022
406. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Education the number of applications for school transport through the REALT system which remain to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49813/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraSchool Transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of my Department. In the last school year over 121,400 children, including over 15,500 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of over €289m in 2021.
My Department and Bus Éireann will continue to provide School Transport Scheme services in line with the process that was in place for the 2021/2022 school year for children arriving to Ireland from Ukraine. Full information on the process is available on Gov.ie.
Children who for the first time require School Transport for the 2022/2023 school year will need to apply in line with this process. Due to the ongoing situation with accommodation, where there has been, and may continue to be, significant movement of families, all Ukrainian children who had availed of School Transport for the 2021/22 school year need to re-apply for transport for the 2022/23 school year in line with this process.
While every effort will be made to ensure school transport services are up and running as they are required, given the ongoing movement and arrival of families, it may in some cases take some time to arrange services for families as information becomes available for those who require school transport.
Due to the volume of applications that continue to be received daily from REALT coordinators and in turn submitted to Bus Éireann, it is not possible to provide this detail at present. However, I can confirm that to date, 94 services have been put in place to cater for pupils travelling to school from accommodation centres throughout the country and this figure continues to rise as applications are processed.
