Ms Bernie McNally:

I thank the Deputy for his question. My colleague, Ms Conduit, will comment in a moment. The school transport review 2030, which the Minister has just published, proposes to recommend to Government that we continue to invest in the school transport scheme, so that by 2030 there will be another 100,000 children and young people on it. That deals with the question that has been asked. The review would give children and the young people's families access to other schools that they might want to attend. The limitations of the nearest school or next nearest school would have moved on and would reflect preferences, and we talked about preferences earlier. It would extend the eligibility to various schools and the distance criteria would be significantly reduced as well.

Interestingly, in respect of the review, the cost of extending the scheme to 100,000 children and young people is neutralised in some way because of the reform because the review proposes far greater integration, wherever possible, with public transport routes. If we keep going the way we are going then the school transport scheme will cost over €600 million by 2030. If we reform the scheme and expand capacity to these extra 100,000 children and young people and integrate with public sector transport, if we give families of children with special educational needs more choice and if we continue what we are doing in special educational needs to have more special schools closer to people and have more special classes in their local communities, then we will not need to spend so much money on children travelling long distances. It will be a matter for Government over the next few years as to whether it can deliver on the proposals in that review.