Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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60. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the plans that are in place to review the operation of the school transport scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49709/22]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I ask what plans are in place to review the operation of the school transport scheme. Will the Minister outline the issue? I might come back to her with a supplementary question. Where is the review at? When do we hope to have a view of the review? When will it be published?

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. The school transport scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of my 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. The cost of the scheme in 2021 was €289 million.

I recognise the importance of the school transport service for families and children. The review commenced in February 2021. It is being conducted with a view to examining the current scheme and its broader effectiveness and sustainability, and to ensure that it serves students and their families adequately. The review encompasses the school transport scheme for children with special educational needs and the primary and post-primary school transport schemes to include an examination of eligibility criteria, trends, costs and cost drivers, and overall effectiveness in meeting the scheme's objectives.

The review will also examine the potential for integration of different strands of the scheme and a more co-ordinated approach with other Departments that use transport services. The review will consider issues such as climate action, supporting rural development and promoting, where possible, initiatives that encourage walking and cycling to school.

In June 2021, the steering group presented me with an initial interim report. Following consideration of this report, I approved temporary alleviation measures which allowed for the provision of transport for post-primary students who were otherwise eligible for school transport but were attending their second nearest school, had applied by the 29 April and registered for a ticket by the 29 July. Temporary alleviation measures at post-primary level will be continued for the 2022-23 school year.

Wider considerations relating to the operation of the scheme are now taking place in the second phase of the review. The technical working group has undertaken extensive consultation over the last number of months, including running a public survey for parents, guardians and students, and has consulted with a broad array of stakeholders including schools, special education interest groups, industry representatives and other Departments. The steering group will continue to report to me on an interim basis as the review progresses.

While work on the review is impacted somewhat by challenges including the pandemic and the impact on resources arising from the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, it is anticipated that the completion of the final phase of the review will be in the shortest timeframe possible. I will examine and consider the final recommendations once received.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. There are two issues, one of which is the ongoing review. Will it take into consideration the issues that arose this year in relation to concessionary tickets and making sure that as broad a school transport system as possible is in place?

School transport ticks an awful lot of boxes in getting everyone who can get a bus to school to do so.

Where children have special and additional needs are travelling to different locations for their school activities or places, some parents opt for a taxi service and others for the grant. Sometimes during the year, which can be very early on, it turns out that what they looked for might not have worked out for every student, depending on their needs and challenges. The cases that come to me are often about taxis. Could there be greater flexibility in the Department so that there would be swift accommodation for people who change their minds on which scheme for kids with additional needs to travel to school they wish to use for genuine reasons?

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The purpose of the review is to look at all aspects of the current system and that includes examining eligibility criteria, trends, cost drivers and the overall effectiveness of the scheme in meeting the objectives as set out. The objective is to maximise the opportunities for young people to avail of the service. To answer the Deputy's first question, eligibility will most certainly be part of it, which is welcome.

He is correct that the value of the school transport system is incalculable, particularly in certain areas where it is a vital service. It is our objective that we will maximise the opportunity for people to avail of it. That is very much part of the review.

It is an important provision for students with special education needs, SEN. More than 17,000 SEN students avail of it. We will examine all aspects of its appropriateness and effectiveness for students with special education needs.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I assume that the issue of distance, particularly at post-primary level, is also in the review and if it is not, the Minister should make sure that it is. The mileage or kilometre distance is probably outdated at this stage and should be looked into in the review and in the final deliberations of the review panel.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I concur with what has been said. We have a scramble every year. We hope that our numbers are sorted for concessionaries on the basis of luck and then every local elected representative gets involved in these campaigns in areas. I have told the Minister previously that sometimes they almost welcome it as a chance to show themselves as busy, but I would be a hell of a lot happier if we could just get this issue off the agenda. We need to examine what constitutes a concessionary ticket and the eligibility criteria and that includes distance, particularly if a second school is being taken into account. We had particular issues in County Louth where there were, say, three schools that were equidistant from each other with very little in the difference. It ended up as a hames for a huge number of children as the Minister knows. We need a paradigm shift around moving people to the bus so we have to do what we are doing this year and more.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for the reply. I tabled Question No. 88 also on this matter. I refer in particular to the large number of children left without transport in a particular area such as Glenville in my constituency. My concern about that area was that these were children who wanted to go to school in Fermoy. The school authorities from Fermoy attended the primary school and advised that Glenville was a feeder school for them but now we find that more than 20 children have been left without school transport to Fermoy. Where there is a large number of students in particular places, that needs to be tackled in the fastest time possible because a large number of families are directly affected.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I echo the comments of the previous speakers and acknowledge the tremendous work that the Minister has done and undertaken and is pursuing in this regard. To shorten the road ahead I suggest that the students that remain off-list and who cannot avail of transport and get a ticket be catered for by way of concessionary payment. At least it would remove the immediate problem. That is not to belittle in any way the tremendous work that the Minister has done but merely to continue it.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the points that the Deputies made. Nobody appreciates more than myself the importance of the school transport scheme and the shortcomings that exist. It is for that reason that I launched this comprehensive review of the scheme, which is long overdue because there are shortcomings and I know how vital it is to those who avail of it.

Eligibility, distance and all of that is part of the review and the ongoing work. Deputy Moynihan specifically referred to the 3.2 km and the 4.8 km criteria. Every aspect of eligibility is being looked at. The Deputy will be aware of issues around concessionaires and who is a concessionary. I believe a lot of that will be addressed in considering the new criteria.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I will go back to the Members who were missing. I call Deputy Carey who is putting a question in the name of Deputy Neale Richmond and then I will move to Deputy Colm Burke.