Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.

School transport is a very significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on the Department's behalf and covering over 82 million kilometres annually. Approximately 114,000 children, including more than 8,000 children with special educational needs, were transported in the last school year on a daily basis to schools throughout the country. This network involves approximately 4,000 vehicles covering over 82 million kilometres annually.

A primary objective of the school transport scheme is to support the transport to and from school of children who would have difficulty travelling for reasons of distance to their nearest school if transport is not supported and to date this has been the sole focus of that scheme. While I recognise the need for flexibility in the use of transportation, this is a complex matter and a number of critical factors must be borne in mind. In the first instance, school transport vehicles are routed and timetabled to coincide with school opening and closing times and existing contract arrangements with private sector providers are framed along these lines. In this context, it is significant that some 85% of school transport provision is now provided by private sector operators on foot of contracts with Bus Éireann. Bus Éireann is operating a process of rolling out five year contracts to maximise value for money and security of provision.

A further significant factor to be considered in the integration of school transport services is child protection. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that the opening up of school transport services to adults would have serious risks if it were to be contemplated. My colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Alan Kelly, and I are together looking closely at the issue of integrated rural transport provision and in that context the National Transport Authority has assumed a role in this area. I understand that proposals are being developed by a working group involving representatives of my Department and the Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Social Protection and the Environment, Community and Local Government, Bus Éireann, the Health Service Executive and others. I consider this is the most appropriate way of advancing this agenda and dealing with the type of issues I have outlined.

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