Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand. I will pass that information on to the Minister. I just was not clear exactly what the ask was.

Following Government permission to do so, earlier today, the Minister announced a significant review of the school transport scheme, which is important. It is very important with regard to this question specifically for the town. Deputy O'Connor is correct that the contractor was a private contractor and, as such, it was not operated by Bus Éireann as part of the school transport scheme. Bus Éireann has advised that it provides nine school transport services to primary and post-primary schools in the Youghal area.

It is very important to highlight the review of the school transport scheme. This is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and, as I understand it, the relationship is with Bus Éireann. In the current school year, more than 161,000 children, including more than 135,000 pupils, travel on primary and post-primary services. The cost of the scheme in 2023 was €382 million. There has been an overall increase in applications and tickets issued in the 2023-24 school year compared with the previous year. It is a very important service for families, whether through a commercial service or another service. The service of getting children to and from school is extremely important. Today, the Minister announced a significant review of this.

As the Deputy is aware, and I know Deputies have raised issues regarding the operation of this in the past, a review has been conducted. This has now been completed. The review was conducted with a view to examining the scheme, its broader effectiveness and suitability to ensure it services students and their families adequately.

Today, the Government gave permission to the Minister to publish the School Transport Scheme 2030 report, which marks the largest review of the scheme since it was established. The Government is committed to working to achieve the report’s recommendation of expanding access to the scheme so that an additional 100,000 pupils can be accommodated by 2030.

Throughout the review and as one would expect, the value of the scheme has been apparent. It not only plays an important part in supporting children's access to education, but also aligns with wider Government objectives in sustainability and reducing the number of individual car journeys.

Overall, the recommended changes to the future operation concern the expansion of the current eligibility criteria, addressing current operational challenges where they exist, charges and grants, and moving towards better integration with public transport over time to ensure optimum value for money. A phased implementation of the review’s recommendations will commence in September 2024. This will include a shared effort between the Departments of Education and Transport to pilot and introduce greater integration of the roll-out of transport networks with school transport routes.

I appreciate this only happened today, so this is the first opportunity for the Minister to provide an update, but I suggest to the Deputy that the best opportunity for ensuring the needs of his constituents in Youghal are met is the early review in 2024. As I understand the matter, the relationship with the commercial contractor is not one envisaged by the Department and the school transport scheme as currently laid out.

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