Mr. Tomás Ó Ruairc:

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an gCathaoirleach agus le baill an choiste as an gcuireadh labhairt inniu. Tá mo chomhghleacaithe in éineacht liom ón rannóg iompar scoile. I thank the Chair and members of the committee for the invitation to appear today. I am joined by my colleagues from the Department, Ms Laura Leonard, acting principal officer, and Ms Sarah Heneghan, acting assistant principal officer.

The school transport scheme was established in 1967 to support children and young people in accessing education at a time when post-primary education had been made free to all. That remains a core benefit of the service. Today, its benefits extend to support parents and guardians who are accessing employment. It continues to support pupils living in rural and remote areas, children and young people with special educational needs, SEN, as well as supporting our national sustainability and climate goals.

The scheme has expanded significantly over the past six years. In that time, the numbers of children and young people using the service have grown from under 120,000 pupils in 2018 to 173,000 pupils in 2024. This equates to an increase of almost 50%. More than 144,000 pupils travel on mainstream services, of whom just over 98,000 are eligible for transport and over 45,500 are concessionary or ineligible ticket holders. Over 22,000 pupils are travelling to and from school on services for children with special educational needs and under 7,000 pupils from Ukraine are also facilitated on school transport services. This growth has been especially marked in the area of special educational needs transport, which now represents almost 60% of the scheme’s total costs, while serving around 13% of pupils. This reflects the Department’s continued commitment to inclusive access and tailored supports.

In relation to the school year 2025-26, applications closed on 25 April, with a final deadline of 6 June for payment or valid medical card details. In relation to new applications received for the coming school year, just under 35,000 were received on time and under 10,000 were received late. Over 162,000 pupils registered for mainstream school transport and have paid for transport for the 2025-26 school year. Eligibility for the scheme remains unchanged. Pupils are eligible if they live at least 3.2 km from their nearest primary school or 4.8 km from their nearest post-primary school. Concessionary tickets are issued where capacity permits, after all eligible pupils are accommodated. Where services are not available, remote area grants are offered. The temporary alleviation measures, TAMs, remain in place at post-primary level for pupils attending their second nearest school.

Since 2018, expenditure has more than doubled, from €200 million in 2018 to €512 million in 2024. In budget 2025, the total allocation for school transport was €383 million. An additional €58 million under the cost-of-living supports was provided in order to maintain reduced fees. Despite this investment, however, the scheme continues to face growing cost pressures. These pressures are driven by increasing pupil numbers, the expanding SEN scheme and increases in transport costs. The school transport 2030 review, published in early 2024, represented the most comprehensive assessment of the scheme since its establishment in 1967. It was informed by extensive consultation with families, pupils, including those with special educational needs, and key stakeholders. The review outlines a path to expand access to an additional 100,000 pupils by 2030, while promoting sustainable transport and improving integration with the wider public transport network. A key outcome is to reduce the number of individual car journeys to school, supporting local communities and the national climate objectives.

A phased implementation approach was adopted to manage increased demand in a planned and sustainable manner. This commenced with 14 pilot projects in the 2024-25 school year, developed in partnership with the Department of Transport and Bus Éireann. These pilots are being actively evaluated and will inform the national roll out of a reformed scheme.

Planning is also under way for additional pilot sites in 2025-26. We continue to roll out enhancements to technology and customer service and improvements have been made to enhance the customer experience, particularly during peak summer months. Work is under way on smart ticketing, digital route planning and improvements to the SEN transport process.

In regard to capacity issues, as with other transport sectors, the school transport scheme continues to experience driver recruitment and fleet availability challenges. As part of a national focus on driver requirements, the Department facilitated a working group between the Department of Education and Youth, the Department of Transport, Bus Éireann and Education and Training Boards Ireland to increase the availability of drivers within both the school transport scheme and other public transport areas nationally through existing and potential training schemes. As a result of the work undertaken by that working group, a transport task force, chaired by the Department of Transport, has now been established. The aim of the task force is to work collaboratively to identify contributing factors to recruitment issues and put forward recommendations and measures to create a pipeline of workers to address these issues. I thank the committee again for the opportunity to discuss the school transport scheme and look forward to questions.