John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators Conway-Walsh and Kieran O'Donnell. I will provide an outline of the extent of the school transport service which very many people may not be aware of. It is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department. In 2017 and 2018, over 117,000 children, including 12,000 with special educational needs, were transported in over 4,500 vehicles on a daily basis to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country, covering over 100 million kilometres, with a total cost in 2017 of €190 million.Parental contributions towards the cost of school transport amounted to €15.4 million, so the State covers a significant cost of school transport and it increases every year. Children are generally eligible for school transport if they satisfy the distance criteria and are attending their nearest school. Children who are eligible for school transport and who have completed the application process on time have been accommodated on school transport services for the current year, where such services are in operation. Children who are eligible for school transport but for whom no 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. That grant is calculated on miles, just like for civil servants. Children who are not eligible for school transport may apply for transport where spare seats are available, after eligible children have been accommodated. This is referred to as concessionary transport. Where the number of ineligible children exceeds the number of spare seats available, Bus Éireann will allocate tickets for the spare seats using an agreed selection process. Under the terms of the scheme the number of spare seats varies from year to year, based on the capacity of the buses running on all of the various routes and the number of eligible children accommodated on each route. Hence, there is no guarantee that a non-eligible child who received a place the previous year will do so the following year, nor is there a guarantee that a sibling of the non-eligible child in receipt of a ticket will also do so. It is included in the terms and conditions on the Bus Éireann online application form that available seats may vary from year to year and that the transport of children who are not eligible cannot be guaranteed for the duration of the child's education.

Routes cannot be altered under the scheme and nor will additional vehicles will be introduced. Neither larger vehicles nor extra trips using existing vehicles will be provided to cater for children who are not eligible, as additional State costs would be incurred by covering the cost of providing school transport for children who are eligible for it.

It is important to remember, and I say this to everybody, that the school transport scheme was put in place for eligible children and for children with special needs. All eligible children in Ireland get school transport. Now and then there may be a click in the system and something might happen with Bus Éireann or something might fall through the cracks, but we are dealing with 117,000 children. All special needs children get school transport. It is one of the best schemes in Europe. An independent assessment showed that for a maximum of €300 per year in primary school and a maximum of €600 in secondary school, the cost per family of taking the car to drive children to school would amount to €1,200. This came from two independent reviews. We have not increased the cost of transport. Our difficulty lies in the fact that we started some years ago with 700 concessionary places for children and we are now up to 24,700, whom we find it extremely difficult to get on to the school buses when we factor in all of the eligible children and the children with disabilities who are entitled to school transport. That is how complicated and difficult the scheme is.

When one looks at it, 99% of people are happy with school transport and 99% of families will say that this is a great scheme. It is not without its faults, however, with so many children involved and the complexity of running such a scheme every day of the week, twice per day, to and from schools and with 4,000 vehicles across the country.