Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to make a statement to update the House on school transport provision for the current school year. Coming from a rural background, I know, understand, and appreciate the importance of school transport to parents and families around the country. I know there are lot of moms, dads, and guardians relying on the scheme to bring their children to and from school.

To give a sense of the scale of the scheme, in the 2022-23 school year, more than 154,000 young people, including more than 18,000 children with special educational needs, SEN, were transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €338.9 million. This includes direct transport services, and grant payments. It also includes funding to schools for the employment of escorts to accompany children with special educational needs whose care and safety needs require this particular type of support.

The scheme is managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. For the 2023-24 school year, reduced charges of €50 per pupil at primary level and €75 per student at post-primary level apply, with a cap per family of €125. This means that ticket holders will save up to €50 at primary and €275 at post-primary, with an overall reduction in the family maximum contribution of €525 compared to the fees for the 2021-22 school year.

There has been an overall increase in both applications and tickets issued for the 2023-24 school year in comparison to the 2022-23 school year. With regard to SEN transport services, to date, more than 5,000 new applications have been received for SEN transport for the 2023-24 school year, with 1,400 of these being received since July alone. This compares to 3,670 new applications received at this time last year. To date, transport has been provided for more than 3,000 new applicants for the 2023-24 school year, with transport being provided for in excess of 19,000 pupils in the current school year. The Department continues to receive applications all year round for the SEN transport service.

As with most, if not all, Government schemes, there are criteria governing the operation of the scheme. Pupils at primary level are eligible where they live not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest primary school. At post-primary level, students who live not less than 4.8 km from and are attending their nearest post-primary school or education centre are deemed eligible. Any pupils or students who do not meet these criteria are deemed not eligible, or otherwise known as concessionary applicants, and are allocated a ticket based on the availability of a seat when all eligible children have been catered for.

In addition, pending completion of the outcome of the full review of the school transport scheme, temporary alleviation measures at post-primary level will be continued for the current school year. Under these measures, which were initially introduced in 2019, transport will be provided where it is in operation and where capacity exists for concessionary post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second nearest school and who applied and paid on time.

I now want to address specific issues that have arisen this year where a small number of contractors handed back contracts at the last minute or continue to do so. Consequently, there are a small number of families who have been issued with tickets in good faith and who do not yet have transport in place. These families are being regularly updated by Bus Éireann as to the current status of their service. Bus Éireann has confirmed that no service has been cancelled but, as I said, there are particular issues with resource availability in terms of drivers or contractors, a number of contractors continuing to hand back contracts or zero bids for contracts in certain areas. This is against a backdrop of significant shortages of drivers in the labour market overall and competing demands for drivers to deliver additional public transport initiatives such as Connecting Ireland, and Bus Connects and Local Link services.

Bus Éireann is continuing to prioritise sourcing vehicles and drivers. While I understand the significant difficulty that even a single disruption to service can cause for families, I note that Bus Éireann has confirmed that services are in operation for 99% of pupils on a daily basis. I reiterate that where the service is not operating for a single parent or guardian and children, I understand the difficulties that can cause. Bus Éireann continues to engage directly with families affected with regular communications updating them on the position with their transport service.

The Department has established an exceptional no service interim grant to assist with the cost of the private transport arrangements families may have to put in place until their service begins. The Department has contacted families directly regarding this payment.

In regard to transport for children with special educational needs, the Department and Bus Éireann are very conscious of the challenges faced by parents awaiting transport for students with special educational needs. Families of children who are eligible for these services but who experience a delay with accessing them may, therefore, apply for the special transport grant. This is a once off payment, paid retrospectively to families, to assist with the cost of the private transport arrangements the family had to put in place until services are finalised.

Where a new service is sanctioned, this means a procurement or vetting process is required while, in many instances, the school is also sanctioned to employ a transport escort and this necessarily takes time to put in place. It is necessary that these measures are put in place. By accepting applications year-round, the Department can ensure that children with special educational needs receive the transport they require. To ensure the efficient delivery of services for children on special educations needs school transport, Bus Éireann assesses each application to assess the options available. Where children can be facilitated on an existing service, applications are processed immediately and arrangements put in place with families involved.

The Department is engaging with the NTA on areas where transport is not yet in place. The authority has also indicated there are challenges sourcing contractors and drivers for Local Link services, for example. Bus Éireann has put in place a dedicated customer care call centre to assist families specifically with school transport queries during the busy summer period. Families that have queries can contact the call centre between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday, with extended opening hours currently on Friday when the helpline stays open until 8 p.m. Families can also contact Bus Éireann by submitting a query via a link on its website. These queries are monitored and responded to on a daily basis.

As Members will all be aware, a review of the school transport scheme is nearing completion. The review is being conducted with a view to examining the current scheme, its broader effectiveness and sustainability and to ensure that it serves students and their families adequately. This review is much-awaited, and I know that many are eager to hear its outcome. I too am eager to advance the review, because I recognise that improvements need to be made to the scheme and I know the importance of doing so. I expect to be in a position shortly to bring the review to Government, which will be the first step and, further to Government approval, the review will be published.

The school transport scheme has been in operation for more than 55 years, since its establishment in 1967, and this review is one of the most extensive investigations that has been carried out into the scheme since its inception. Fundamentally, I want to ensure that the school transport scheme is updated to reflect the modern realities facing it and that it can continue to benefit children and families for decades to come. Among other elements, the review has analysed the evolution of the objectives of the scheme; the rationale for the scheme with reference to the public spending code; how the scheme fits with school planning policy; how the scheme fits with broader Government policy and programme for Government commitments; the value for money of the scheme to the Exchequer and parents and guardians; transport schemes in other jurisdictions and the learnings that can be gleaned from best practice and experiences from those jurisdictions; the stakeholder engagement process, where the opinions, views and experiences of those who are experts in the field are shared; and the fiscal sustainability of the scheme.

As part of the review, between February 2021 and June 2023, a total of 16 meetings were held with the technical working group and eight meetings were held with the steering group. Towards the end of phases 2 and 3 of the review, a series of meetings were also held with individual members of the technical working group and the steering group.

There has been extensive consultation with parents, students, providers and other key stakeholders as part of this engagement and we consulted with families who use the scheme and would like to use the scheme, and also with young people with special educational needs and mainstream students. It is very important that we have engaged with those who are not currently using the scheme but would like to use it. As I outlined, we heard from a broad range of people, including parents, guardians, young people, transport providers and other key stakeholders. The results from the stakeholder engagement with parents and children illustrated the importance of school transport to families, with most indicating it is a safe and reliable service that helps families to live and work, in particular in rural Ireland. Another important finding of the stakeholder engagement process was that the special educational needs transport scheme supports many young people in attending specialist school placements which they otherwise may not be able to attend.

An analysis of school transport schemes in other jurisdictions was also conducted as part of this stakeholder engagement and review process, including the EU, UK, US and Australia. A wide breadth of expertise was leaned upon and gleaned during the review. This research and analysis outlined the evidence in terms of the need for a school transport service in an Irish context compared to some comparative countries, as well as an analysis of the costs to users of school transport services in some other jurisdictions.

The Department developed a strategy for collaboration and communication with stakeholders. Overall, there were five separate stakeholder groups. Letters were issued to a number of stakeholders, including school management bodies, parent representative organisations, special education interest groups, EU member states and school principals, to seek their views on the school transport scheme. Parents, guardians and post primary students were invited to complete online surveys, more than 10,000 of which were done.

A series of bilateral engagements were completed with relevant Departments, agencies, bodies and organisations to discuss the review and seek views. Meetings have been held with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Transport, Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Rural and Community Development and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, NTA, Ombudsman for Children, National Council for Special Education, school transport appeals board, National Council for Special Education, TUSLA, Bus Éireann and the Road Safety Authority.

As I said, more than 10,000 online surveys were completed by parents and students, which was phenomenal engagement, and more than 245 additional submissions were received from other stakeholders such as relevant Departments, interest groups and school principals. In analysing the information gathered in the survey and the submissions, it is clear that school transport is vital for families.

In undertaking this review, a number of member states were invited to complete a survey to assist with the analysis of transport schemes in other jurisdictions. A total of 12 complete or partially complete surveys were returned. In addition, a meeting was held with the Department of Education in Northern Ireland to discuss how the school transport scheme operates in that jurisdiction.

Ultimately, the review will make a series of recommendations on the future operations of the scheme. Additional staffing personnel have been put in place to facilitate this. The timeframe for completion of the review was first challenged by the onset of the Covid-19 crisis, which demanded significant additional work to ensure that transport services could operate fully and safely throughout the pandemic. Furthermore, as Deputies will be aware, the arrival of significant numbers of children from Ukraine has required additional resources to ensure that transport services are up and running for them to access, often under tight timeframes and with changing circumstances.

It is clear that a significant body of work has been undertaken by the Department, in terms of a wide-ranging, comprehensive and inclusive review. I once again thank the House for the invitation to join Members today and provide an update on the work under way to operationalise the existing scheme and review its operation. We review it with the intention of ensuring that it is fit for purpose now and in the future and will meet the needs of students and families for many years to come. An enormous and worthy body of work has been undertaken. I thank Members for their engagement on the review and all of those who participated so positively and proactively with the review. I again thank them for the invitation to be here today.

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