Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills for her inability to take this Commencement matter in person. School transport is a very significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. This school year, for example, some 113,000 children, including almost 10,000 children with special educational needs, are being transported daily to schools throughout the country. The purpose of the primary school transport scheme is, having regard to available resources, to support the transport to and from school of children who reside in an location that is remote from their nearest school. Children are eligible for transport if they reside not less than 3.2 km from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department and Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language. Bus Éireann, which operates the school transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills, is responsible for determining eligibility for school transport and for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes.

The closing date for receipt of applications for school transport for this school year was the 25 April 2014. Bus Éireann has advised that the application for school transport for the family in question was not received until March 2015. Although the children are eligible for school transport, I understand there is no school transport service operating from the area in which these children reside. However, Bus Éireann has also confirmed that tickets were issued in error because a service was not available to the family. In accordance with terms of the scheme, families of eligible children for whom no school transport service is available may, following an application for transport within the prescribed time limits, receive a remote area grant towards the cost of private transport arrangements. If it is not possible to accommodate these children for the 2015-16 school year, the family will be eligible for a remote area grant from the commencement of that school year. This grant is calculated at a fixed daily rate and is payable annually at the end of the school year, based on the distance a family resides from their school of eligibility and on the level of school attendance. The full details of the remote area grant are available on the Department's website. It is important to emphasise that the terms of the primary school transport scheme are applied equitably on a national basis.