Mr. Tomás Ó Ruairc:

The ambition is to increase the numbers on the service by 100,000 by 2030. The eligibility criteria are due to be reduced, with full implementation, from 3.2 km and 4.8 km to 1 km and 2 km for primary and post-primary, respectively. As we were discussing earlier, the growth is going to be challenging. The Minister appeared before the committee some weeks ago and spoke about the fact that it will be a multi-annual process. The review report made clear that it would always be implemented on a phased basis for a number of different reasons, not least of which would be budgetary challenges but also the issues of challenges in the supply of drivers in particular areas, fleet supply, as outlined by Mr. Kent earlier, and of course, the whole area of PSO integration. That is a body of work in itself for which the Department of Transport is responsible. Ideally, where possible, we want to be able to integrate the school transport service with a PSO route. We identified one example in the Shannon-Limerick area last year but those factors have to be lined up for our pilot to be implemented. Notwithstanding those challenges, we have implemented 14 pilots in the last school year which has just closed and they will continue into the next school year. We want to increase the number year on year towards the overall target of 100,0000 by 2030. However, additional to the facts I have just outlined, that will always be subject to the Estimates process in the budget as well.