John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smith and I congratulate him on his extensive knowledge of school transport. I have met him on a number of occasions. I could read out a long prepared script and answer based on the question he asked. What he has said is correct. It is an extensive operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. It covers more than 100 million km annually and approximately 116,000 children, including almost 12,000 children with special needs, are transported in approximately 4,500 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools. It is complicated and complex.

I tend to say things straight, and I agree with what the Deputy has said. There should be a little more flexibility. Many Deputies are aware of the changes to the school transport scheme announced by the then Government in budget 2011. They derived from the recommendations contained in what was known as a comprehensive value for money review of the scheme. This was an independent value for money review of the scheme, as far as I am aware. The changes announced included the cessation of the catchment boundary area system to determine the eligibility at post-primary level and to increase from seven to ten the number of eligible children required to establish or retain our school transport service.

I have some difficulty with this and I am speaking with Bus Éireann and the Department about it currently. We have buses that may have eight or nine pupils but not the ten required. The Deputy may not be aware that in the past two weeks I had been requested to take 90 buses off their routes and I refused to do so. These were buses that had fewer than ten pupils. I indicated that at the very least if the schools could show that next year or the year after they may be able to bring the number of pupils on the route to ten, that the buses would be kept in the system, and this will happen.

In general, children are eligible for post-primary school transport if they reside not less than 4.8 km and are attending their nearest school. It is important to note that children who were eligible for school transport prior to the introduction of the changes retain this eligibility for the duration of their education at the school. This is provided there is no change in their circumstances. However, all new pupils, including siblings of existing pupils, are assessed for school transport eligibility under the revised criteria.

To answer the question the Deputy has asked, I will have a look at it. Next week, I plan to meet departmental officials on school transport again, and I will keep the Deputy up to speed on whether we can move forward on the suggestion he has made. Next week, I will also meet a number of Deputies from various parties, and if the Deputy would like to be part of the meeting he would be very welcome for a number of minutes. I ask him to email me the proposal and suggestion he has made before I meet the departmental officials next week, and we will see whether we can move forward on the very issue he has spoken about, with which I have some difficulty, I may as well be frank with the Deputy.

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