Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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78. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the review of school transport will be completed; the plans that she has in place for the delivery of school transport in 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2873/23]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I wish to get an update from the Minister on when the school transport review will be finalised. The review commenced two years ago and is ongoing. The introduction of free school tickets for certain cohorts last year created a considerable problem for people trying to get on school buses and it is still having ramifications for families.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The school transport scheme is a significant operation, managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education. In the current school year, more than 147,900 children, including more than 18,000 children and young people with special educational needs, are transported on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In addition, school transport scheme services are being provided in the current school year for more than 3,800 children and young people who have arrived to Ireland from Ukraine. The total cost of the scheme in 2022 was €332.2 million.

A review of the school transport scheme has been commenced. The review was conducted with a view to examining the current scheme with regard to its broader effectiveness and sustainability and to ensuring that it serves students and their families. Significant consultation has been undertaken as part of this review. A public survey was administered for parents, guardians and students who use the service and, equally as important, for those who do not use the service but wish to have access to it. A broad array of stakeholders, including schools, special education interest groups, industry representatives and other Departments were consulted as part of the review.

Phase 1 of the review is complete. It examined the impact of eligibility criteria on mainstream pupils who were eligible for transport to their nearest school but were attending their next nearest school.

Following consideration of this report for the 2021-22 school year, the provision of temporary alleviation measures was approved for transport for post-primary students who are otherwise eligible for school transport, but were attending their second-nearest school and had applied and paid on time. These measures have been continued for the 2022-23 school year, pending completion of the review. They mean transport is provided for post-primary pupils who are eligible for transport to their nearest school and are attending their second-nearest school; applied for school transport by 29 April 2022 and registered for a ticket by 29 July 2022.

Phase 2 of the review has progressed significantly and is being completed in tandem with phase 3, which has commenced.

While work on the review was impacted somewhat by the current conflict in Ukraine, and by the increased demand for the scheme in summer 2022 due to the waiving of fees, my officials are working to complete phase 3 of the review within the coming weeks with recommendations on the future operation of the scheme. Once approved by Government, it is planned that the review will be published.

Planning for the operation of the scheme for the 2023-24 year is expected to be completed shortly-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Go raibh maith agat.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for the update. The review has been going on since 2021. I know a considerable body of work has to be done, but what I am hearing from the bus operators, Bus Éireann and everybody else is that they need to have a plan in place for next September as to what is being done. They need it in February, rather than it remaining to be decided in March, April or another time. Mayhem occurred last year because the announcements were made late on what would be done and with regard to more free transport. There is nothing wrong with free transport, except that it has to be planned properly. The school transport system serves a considerable cohort of people in both mainstream and special needs school. It is important that it should run as smoothly as possible.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is correct. Some 147,900 young people benefit from the scheme. He is also right that the review is a considerable body of work. Phase 1 has been completed. The consultation alone involved consulting with thousands of parents. It also involved consultation with stakeholders, providers in the area and with best practice with regard to what is happening in other European countries. A phenomenal body of work has been completed. Phase 2 is also complete and phase 3 has begun. It is our expectation that it will be completed in the coming weeks.

The Deputy will be aware that we introduced a temporary alleviation measure as part of the process. We did so not just for 2021 and 2022, but continued it into 2022 and 2023. A considerable body of work has been undertaken. I will accept it was possibly impacted by what is happening in Ukraine with regard to making additional services available, but our expectation is that the work will be completed in the coming weeks.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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The biggest problem that happened last year and continues to happen is that we have school buses going to school not full. Children who were getting concessionary tickets and cannot get on these buses, because they are not getting a concessionary ticket now. This was partly due to the fact they applied on time but were refunded their money and had to do something again by July. They had to press some button or something. The system has been unforgiving.

Many parents thought that because they had applied to the scheme, that was it. There was some other anomaly or glitch in the system. It means that for families in my constituency and throughout the country, parents have had to make alternative work arrangements to get their children to school. They feel discommoded by the fact they had discretionary tickets that they were prepared to pay for and were entitled to. While money was made available last October for those passengers, the scheme has not been fulfilled for everybody because the buses are not there. We then have the situation where there are buses with vacant seats on them going to schools and parents are driving after the buses in cars with their children.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the Deputy's points. As a consequence of what was introduced last year, we have seen a 25% increase in provision of places for students on the school bus system, that is, 25,600 places and there has been a 26% increase in the allocation of special education places. There has been a considerable increase in availability of places in the school transport system.

I take the Deputy's point about tickets being allocated, but they were allocated to people who fulfilled the criteria. He will be aware that the criteria are based on whether the students at primary level were 3.2 km from their school or students at post-primary level were 4.8 km from their nearest or next-nearest school. Distance from the schools and paying on time were the criteria.

Seats are empty for a variety of reasons. Schools may open or close at different times. Thus, there will be additional capacity at a given time. Parents, on a given day, might make themselves available to take a child to school. I cannot interfere with that process. I appreciate what the Deputy said about the application process and its being difficult. That is all part of the review process. It is our expectation the review process will be completed in the coming weeks.