Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy Collins for raising this important matter. Before I respond to the important and specific questions he raised in respect of the school transport scheme, it is important to put the matter in the context. In that regard, this is the scheme that, in 2024, the taxpayer funded at a cost of €512 million. In 2019, the cost was €219 million. The cost of this scheme has doubled in a short number of years, which, in terms of the rate of public expenditure growth, is way ahead of spending on many other policy initiatives across our State at the moment.

The Deputy made reference to children who were not able to access the scheme, which I will discuss in a moment. I acknowledge the number of children who are accessing the scheme. Last year, 178,000 children and families accessed the scheme. That was a 3% increase on previous years. I am not making the case that there are not issues. The Deputy raised two of them. However, I want to acknowledge that this is a big programme that offers support to over 170,000 families and children, which is why it is always a policy area of such interest to the House.

On the matters the Deputy raised, on whether drivers over 70 should be allowed to drive school buses, my understanding is that this relates to a retirement age put in place by Bus Éireann. The policy perspective is to have the retirement ages aligned between Bus Éireann and those involved in providing that service. The Road Safety Authority is preparing a report for the Department of Transport with regard to the appropriateness of that age limit for the service.

I hear many different demands in respect of the expansion of the scheme.

Some of the challenges in doing that are directly related to the fact the overall cost of the scheme has doubled in a few short years. I am certainly aware, as are the Ministers for education and public expenditure, of the need to ensure that as we make the scheme more broadly available, which I have no doubt will happen, it happens in a way that is economically sustainable such that we are able to fund the expansion of the service in the years ahead. I imagine that is playing in a role in relation to bringing more operators into the scheme.

See this speech in context