Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

The school transport scheme, which is operated by Bus Éireann, facilitates the transportation of more than 123,000 children to primary and post-primary schools each day. The parties to the Teachers' Conciliation Council have agreed the standardisation of the school breaks at Christmas, Easter and mid-term in the first and second terms, for the 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.

School transport services will be co-ordinated and arranged to tie in with these dates while the commencement date for services will take into account the start date of the certificate examinations in June of these years. In general, bus services operate for 183 days at primary and 167 days at post-primary level each school year.

The 2011 allocation for the scheme is approximately €180 million which represents a daily cost of approximately €1 million. My Department is working closely with Bus Éireann to ensure services continue to operate in an efficient and cost effective manner.

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