Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising these matters. As discussed with the Deputies, I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley, who is unfortunately unavailable this evening due to another commitment.

Deputy Cronin asked about the transport issues in Waterford. I am a mother of three and for the past 17 years, including this year, I have put somebody on the school bus. Living in Portlaw, where there is no secondary school, we have no choice. Only for the school bus system, with five buses leaving Portlaw every morning, thankfully, my youngest is on the bus.

I will provide an outline on the extent of the school transport first. School transport is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In the last school year, more than 121,400 children, including more than 15,500 children with special educational needs, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country at a cost of more than €289 million in 2021.

The purpose of the Department's school transport scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside remote from their nearest school.

In July 2022, Government announced funding for the waiving of school transport scheme fees for the 2022-2023 school year as part of a wider package of cost-of-living measures. I know, particularly in the area where I am from, not having to pay that €650, or €220 in the case of primary school, was welcomed by school families.

School transport ticket registration for the 2022-2023 school year closed on 29 July, by which time almost 130,000 applications were received for mainstream school. The figure included 44,299 new applications as well as roll-overs from the previous school year. Already, 124,000 tickets for the mainstream scheme alone have been issued to applicants for the 2022-2023 school year. At the start of the last school year, there were 103,000 children carried on mainstream school transport services, so already in the region of 20,000 additional places have been created. There has been an increase in tickets allocated across all counties, including the areas referred to by both Deputies.

Bus Éireann will continue to process applications and to issue tickets as soon as extra buses and drivers are sourced and become available to provide transport for the higher numbers qualifying for the service. However, regrettably, the unprecedented numbers of applications for the upcoming school year has led to some delays in issuing tickets.

I will respond to Deputy Smyth first. I take on board what she said. I believe she was referring to Kilnaleck.

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