Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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80. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of children who applied and paid on time who were refused places on school transport in September 2024; the specific changes that will be made to the school transport system in the 2025-26 school year, in comparison with 2024-25, to ensure that all children who want to avail of the scheme are accommodated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40611/25]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister indicate the number of children who applied and paid on time who were refused places on school transport in September 2024? Will she outline the specific changes that will be made to the school transport for the 2025-26 school year, in comparison with 2024-25, to ensure that all children who want to avail of the scheme will be accommodated?

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, 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 and Youth. In the current school year, more than 173,000 children have been transported daily in approximately 8,200 vehicles across 10,600 routes to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country.

In relation to the number of children who applied and paid on time and were unsuccessful in obtaining a seat in the 2024-25 school year, Bus Éireann has advised that 1,343 ineligible applicants, otherwise known as concessionary applicants, and 899 new applications for families of eligible children did not obtain seats. Ineligible applicants were for a mainstream scheme where a service existed. The families of eligible children were offered a remote area grant due to no service existing. Both groups comprise a total of 2,242 children for the 2024-25 school year.

Temporary alleviation measures will continue for the 2025-26 school year at post-primary level. A phased implementation of School Transport 2030 began at the start of the 2024-25 school year. This involved a number of pilot programmes held in conjunction with the National Transport Authority, the Department of Transport and Bus Éireann.

A total of 14 pilot programmes were conducted in the 2024-25 school year. These will provide valuable insights into the impact of increased demand on the scheme, the potential for integrating public transport with school transport and opportunities to promote more sustainable modes of transport. It is intended to continue the current pilots for the upcoming school year.

Work is also under way to identify where further pilot programmes may be conducted. Implementation of the review’s recommendations will continue to be planned, subject to the availability of resources.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State confirmed that 2,242 children were denied places last year. Many thousands more are forced to deal with Bus Éireann and the Department scrambling at the eleventh hour. There were 40,500 calls and 21,600 webchats with Bus Éireann last year in respect of the system. The system needs to be improved. There was a review. The fact is, however, that the Minister of State is choosing to ignore his Department's long-awaited review. The answer to the question I asked is that there will be no changes this year.

The major recommendation to encourage people onto school transport related to the distance criteria. Recommendation 4.1 A) states that the phased reduction of the nearest-school-distance criteria was due to start last year - this was to be matched with investment in the fleet and drivers - and was to be completed this year. The new distance criteria were to apply this year. Will this happen? If not, why? If it does not happen, will the Minister of State accept that children will be locked out of the system?

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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School transport is hugely important for every schoolgoing child at primary and post-primary level. When the school transport scheme was introduced, it was for families who may have been without transport. Now, it is because of working families. We need to make sure they avail of it and that there are enough buses for it.

There is an ambitious programme as part of School Transport 2030 to make sure we get more and more children onto the school bus service. This year, we will again have more students on the school bus service. We understand the importance of that. We will be working on the review of School Transport 2030 on a phased basis. The pilot programmes conducted in the previous school year are being assessed. They contain very important information to plan how we go forward. It is not possible in rural areas but in many other areas we will see whether we can integrate the school transport system for the greater benefit of the students and their families.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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We waited a long time for the review. To be clear, it stated that reducing the distance criteria would enable more children to be eligible for transport, increasing uptake and thus facilitating greater access to the labour market for working parents. This is mainly women. There are obvious benefits in terms of the environment, socialisation and meeting our climate action targets. The Government's target is a 30% reduction in private car escort to education journeys by 2030. To meet these targets and deliver on the recommendations, an additional 13,500 children need to be carried on school transport every year. That was supposed to start last year. The Minister of State is not doing this, so he is failing on every measure. Why is that the case? On a related point - and this will be a cause of great frustration and I expect there to be a full scramble again come the middle weeks of August - can this process be commenced earlier next year?

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I take the point on starting the process earlier. I always say that from 15 August it becomes school bus ticket time. A large number of tickets are processed every day by the Department and Bus Éireann. A great deal of work is being done on this . A lot of work has been done on the entire school transport system and expanding it. I take the point that a large number of students would love to benefit from it. Our aim is to try to get more students onto the school transport system. We are working within the resources available to us, and we are trying to make sure we are giving the best possible service in terms of the resources that are available. On some routes, there are issues with getting contractors and drivers. I take the point. It is April when people first go on and they then pay by 6 June. It takes a number of weeks for this to be done, but it is something we will look at.