John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A number of issues were raised. Approximately 114,000 children use school transport. This number has been increasing significantly. About 12,000 special needs students use school transport. The cost of school transport works out at about €182 million per year. Out of that, 30% is spent on special needs. Members should remember this is a very comprehensive and detailed service. We are talking about over 4,000 vehicles on a daily basis serving primary and post-primary schools, covering almost 100 million km and moving 114,000 children twice a day. In respect of the plans for school transport, it is very simple. An analysis will be done every year on the number of children who indicate, particularly those who are eligible. Members should remember the school transport scheme is basically for those who are eligible for school transport although we carry thousands of concessionary children. The number of concessionary children has increased dramatically over the past four or five years. The Department tries to get an indication to the best of its ability as to how many children are taking up the transport scheme, particularly eligible children, from one year to another. We specifically put emphasis on special needs, which is of significant importance to us, to make sure every special needs child who needs school transport will get it. The total number of children using school transport has actually increased this year from approximately 113,000 to 114,716. Interestingly, 410 new services were introduced in 2016, which is 30% more than in 2015. A total of 365 of those services were for children with special educational needs. Every six months or as often as we can, we assess the number of eligible children and special needs children who need school transport. We do our best within the budget we are obliged to work within. Of course, criteria are set down covering things like routes and definition of routes.