Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan. I thank the Senator for raising it.

Before I address the specific issues raised, I wish to give Senators an outline of the extent of the school transport service. In the 2017-18 school year, more than 117,000 children, including more than 12,000 with special educational needs, were transported daily in approximately 4,500 vehicles to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country, covering more than 100 million kilometres annually at a total cost of almost €190 million. Parental contributions towards the cost of school transport were €15.4 million in 2017, with the remainder paid for by the State.

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 school 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 arrangements.

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 an ineligible child who received a place in a previous year will receive a seat the following year. Neither is there a guarantee that a sibling of an ineligible child who receives a ticket will receive a seat. It is included in the terms and conditions on the Bus Éireann online application that availability of seats may vary from year to year and that concessionary transport cannot be guaranteed for the duration of a child's education.

Under the terms of the scheme, routes will not be extended or altered and additional vehicles will not be introduced. Neither will larger vehicles or extra trips using existing vehicles be provided to cater for children who are not eligible, as no additional State cost will be incurred in covering the cost of providing school transport for children who are not eligible.

More than 74,000 children who are eligible for school transport and who completed the application process on time have been issued with tickets for school transport services for the 2018-19 school year. A further 1,100 children who are eligible for school transport but were late in submitting their payment details were unsuccessful in obtaining seats on school transport services, as buses are operating to capacity. In addition, more than 27,500 children who are not eligible for school transport and who paid by the deadline date have been issued with concessionary tickets for school transport. Some 350 children who are not eligible for school transport and who paid by the deadline date were unsuccessful in obtaining concessionary seats on school transport services for the 2018-19 year, as buses are operating to capacity.

The situation referred to by the Senator relates to a number of children whose payments were not received on time and a further number who are not eligible for school transport. As the services in the area are operating at capacity, it will not be possible to accommodate them on school transport services.