Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to reiterate that more than 161,000 young people are currently availing of the system. They are being transported to and from school every single day. It is a hugely important service.

I come from a rural constituency. Nobody appreciates or understands its value as much as I do, and I know Deputies across the floor of the House understand that. However, we have a greater ambition in that we want an additional 100,000 students to be in a position to avail of the school transport system. It is for that reason we are looking at flexibilities going forward and reducing the criteria of 3.2 km at primary to 1 km, and the 4.8 km to 2 km. We are also looking at aligning the school transport scheme with the public transport service. That would be a post-primary level, obviously. As requested by parents, we are also considering allowing children with additional needs to travel on mainstream school transport if they so choose, or to continue on a special education service. We will be piloting some of these aspects come September. We will show as much flexibility as possible to parents presently but our overall ambition is a great one, with an additional 100,000 students.

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